18. How Effective Are Your Meetings

7/25/2019 18. How Effective Are Your Meetings

1/3

How Effective Are Your Meetings?

The challenge in many organizations is not just that there are too many

meetings, but that there are too many poorly run meetings As a result people

waste time an! energy instea! of getting "real wor#" !one

Here is a chec#list $ use in my programs as $ observe an! provi!e real time

coaching How is your team !oing?

Structure

% &i! the meeting start on time?

% $s there a publishe! agen!a?

% 'as the agen!a sent out ahea! of time?

% Are the most important items on the agen!a first?

% &i! people prepare for the meeting? 'hat !i! they !o?

Dialogue and Discussion Dynamics

% Are all team members engage! an! participating?

% &oes the team go beyon! information sharing in its !ialogue?

% &o team members challenge each other?

% &o people e(press !ifferences of opinions, even when unpopular?

% Are there repercussions for spea#ing the truth?

Decision Making Dynamics

% $s the team focuse! on agreement or commitment?

% How !oes the collective style of the group impact problem solving an! !ecision

ma#ing?

% $s the team closing out on !ecisions?

% Are !ecisions an! actions summarize! at the en! of the meeting?

% $s there a trac#ing mechanism to monitor !ecision progress?

General Dynamics of Team

% &o people generally respect each other, enjoy each others) presence, act as

colleagues?

% Are there signs of trust * as#ing for help, offering help, apologizing, being

vulnerable?

% $s the team focuse! on overall team goals versus in!ivi!ual responsibilities,

silos, an! egos

% 'hat in!ivi!ual team member habits impact conversation +laughing,

e(aggerate! wor!s, bo!y language an! reactions, rambling, too manystoriese(amples, etc-?


2/3

Leader Dynamics

% 'hat is the lea!er !oing to encourage !iscussion?

% 'hat is the lea!er !oing to blunt conversation?

.ne of the results of a poorly run meeting is limite! input $ often hear lea!ers

say "$ want my people to contribute more in our team meetings"

'hat most lea!ers !on)t realize is that limite! conversation is often the result of

their in!ivi!ual behaviors /or e(ample, $ recently atten!e! a client)s team

meeting an! notice! that he woul! ramble on for several minutes at a time an!

then as# "any 0uestions?" an! without hesitation begin tal#ing again

An!, he !i!n)t even #now he was !oing it

&o you want to generate more conversation in your meetings? Then, #eep

rea!ing

$n a!!ition to the chec#list above for how to con!uct a better meeting, try these

three i!eas for how to generate more conversation in the meeting

Ask open ended questions instead of closed ended questions.1uestions

such as "&o you thin# this training will help us?" has only two possible answers *

Yes or 2o 3hrase! !ifferently, "How !o you thin# this training will help us?" willgenerate fuller responses $f you !eci!e to start a conversation with close!*

en!e! 0uestions, follow*up imme!iately with an open*en!e! 0uestion to give

momentum to the conversation

Lead with questions, then pause.$t often ta#es people 45*46 secon!s to

process a 0uestion /or some, that may result in an uncomfortable length of

silence Try this as an e(ample 'ith no one aroun! as# a 0uestion 7oo# at your

watch an! time yourself for 46 secon!s 45*46 secon!s is a seemingly long time

8ut, the best lea!ers, communicators, an! negotiators are .9 with silence

because they #now it)s a tool to prompt a response :ive people time to process

your open*en!e! 0uestions by pausing

e aware of others! "ody language.3eople often telegraph intent through

their bo!y language $n some cases you may see people intereste! in

contributing, but they may be uncomfortable spea#ing up without hearing others

spea# first $f you see bo!y language that implies someone is intereste! in

spea#ing, ma#e eye contact with the person That often prompts a response .r,if it !oesn)t, simply as# "what are your thoughts?"


3/3

The challenge in too many meetings is that lea!ers loo# for agreementinstea!

of commitment Agreement typically results in people simply no!!ing their

hea!s in meetings an! then failing to ta#e action afterwar!s

Commitment, on the other han!, results in action An! commitment only

comes from !ialogue, conversation, !ebate, an! conflict

;ay tune! for a more in*!epth article on agreement versus commitment

$n the mean time, try the i!eas above

;al ;ilvester is the foun!er an! presi!ent of 64< ;olutions +five*twelve- an!

author of "The =ltimate :oal ;etting :ui!e" an! "$gnite> The Essential @ules

for Emerging 7ea!ers"

'or#ing with teams an! lea!ers is ;al)s passion, an! his uni0ue perspective has

been nurture! through his e(perience over the past 4 years as an Army .fficer,

an e(ecutive at Accenture, an! foun!er of 64< ;olutions He has le! an!

manage! teams in the !esert of 9uwait, the mountains of Tur#ey, an! in the

offices of many clients on process improvement, organizational change, an!

training projects

Documents

18. How Effective Are Your Meetings