1. How to Run Meetings

2. Meetings to Inform ○ Tell all meetings ○ Lots of Reports ○ Very little interaction ○ People are bored ○ No consent agenda ○ Attendance goes down

3. Meetings to Persuade ○ Selling already formed opinions. ○ Defending a position. ○ Listening to refute. ○ Unfavorable reaction to disagreement.

4. Meetings to Problem Solve Solve real problems. Search out new ideas. Listen for understanding No speeches. Stimulate differences of opinions.

5. Five Step Meetings: Step 1: Start the Process  Open and welcome.  State a clear purpose for the meeting.  Explain the process of the five steps.

6. Step 2: Generate Ideas  Generate ideas without talking to each other.  Write each idea on an index card / Post-it note.  Facilitator does the same.

7. Step 2 (cont.): Record Ideas  Suggest one idea at a time, rotate, get all ideas.  Summarize ideas, list on board or chart.  No criticism of ideas.  Questions of clarification only.  Rotate to get all ideas.  New ideas may be generated as well.

8. Step 3: Discuss Ideas  Open discussion.  Proceed item by item.  Clarify, explain and discuss items.  Explore advantages and disadvantages.  Discuss grouping of certain items: Careful not to group too much.  No need for a group decision yet.

9. Step 4: Reach a Decision  Create a clear ballot on chart or board.  Invite everyone to vote. Number of votes should cut the list of ideas to number of options you need. Weighted ballot might work: Give each person 5-4-3-2-1 or 3- 2-1 weighted votes.

10. Step 5: Plan Next Steps  Publicly announce the voting results.  Reach consensus on that decision.  May need to hold interim votes to narrow the choices.  May have a few rounds of voting.  Figure out who is going to do what by when to move the decisions forward.

11. www.danebener.com www.QCLCI.com EbenerDanR@sau.edu Dr. Dan R. Ebener Five Step Meeting Process