Expert Webinar Series: Tools for More Effective Board Meetings - Feb 5, 2015

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Tools for More Effective Board Meetings

Webinar Presenter: Rick Lent, Ph.D

Date: February 5th, 2015Time: 2:00 PM EST


Tools for More Effective Board Meetings Free Expert Webinar

Webinar presenter: Richard Lent, Ph.D. & Co-founder of Meeting for Results – an organization that provides leaders with the coaching, tools and facilitation they need to get better results from their meetings.

Author of Meeting for Results Tool Kit:

Make Your Meetings Work


Objectives for Today’s Session

Provide practical tools and ideas to:

1. Conduct more efficient and effective board meetings.

2. Create meetings that build broader commitment to decisions

3. Achieve broader engagement and better follow-up

And take your questions …


Replies to Registration Questions

How many board members do you have? Replies: from 4 to 45

A key difficulty in holding effective board meetings? A few reported good meetings! Others listed challenges with participation, attendance,

engagement, or difficulty with actions and follow-up Or difficulty managing timing, meeting length, getting work

done Challenges with effective agendas, decision making, keeping

strategic focus Virtual board meetings


Common Challenges of Nonprofit Boards

• Board size• Ineffective time

management• Board discussions get

stuck in details• Unequal participation

and engagement• Muddled decisions and

low commitment


Which Meeting Would You Rather

Attend?


Unseen Structures Affect What We Do


Unseen Structures of Meetings

• Physical, temporal, procedural aspects of meetings.

• With an (unrecognized) impact on how we interact with each other and the work of the meeting.


Structural Choices in Planning

How you define the task or work of the meeting.Who gets invited.How you design the discussion.How you intend to reach decisions.How time will be spent.How you will arrange the meeting space.


Structural Choices in Conducting and Achieving Meeting Results

How you share responsibility.How you support dialogue.How you manage time.How you work with any conflict.How you build decisions withyour group.How you plan to follow-up.


Structures for How You Design Discussion

Principle of 8: Managing Group Size for Effective Dialogue

If the number of participants will be 8 or more, plan on having them talk in small groups (e.g., pairs or trios) before any whole group discussion.


Structures for How You Design Discussion

Two of the many tools that can help you structure an effective, engaging discussion...

1-2-All: Providing effective engagement for groups of any size

PALPaR: Creating a respectful exchange in response to some proposal


Questions so far?


Example of a Challenging Board Meeting

• 18 members• Monthly meetings of

uncertain length• Difficult, ineffective board

discussions• Lots of unstated issues


• Create an agenda that clearly defines the work to be done and sets a realistic time to do it.

• Change room set-up and seating to change interactions.

• Plan a structure for discussions to make sure all get to talk and be heard … and stay on time.

My Recommendations


Selected Tools for Better Structure

•Seating Arrangements•1-2-All •Three Reaction Questions•PALPaR•Five Cs•Four Responsibilities•Three Follow-Up Questions


Seating ArrangementsChanging interaction by changing seating

Decide if you want individuals to sit as they usually do. The best choice may be to mix participants so that the same people don’t sit with and talk to the same folks as usual.

Tips:

Direct people to their “assigned” seats as they arrive.

Begin by taking a different seat yourself.

If it’s a large group or you want better dialogue, use circles of chairs.


1-2-AllEffective engagement for any size group

After introducing a subject or question to be addressed by the group, complete the following steps.

1: Individual Reflection. Give individuals a minute or two to gather their own thoughts. (This is the “1” of the tool).

2: Small Group Discussion. Ask everyone to turn to their neighbors to form small, 2 (or 3) person groups to share ideas. Give them 5 minutes or so to share.

All: Whole Group Discussion. Ask each group for a brief report (typically 1-3 minutes) summarizing their small group discussion.


Three Reaction Questions: Gathering Balanced Feedback

After you present a proposal, ask participants to reflect on their own or (better) talk in small groups to answer the questions below. Try not to open up discussion before all have a chance to reflect on reactions.

1. What do you like about [the proposal]?

2. Where do you need further information?

3. Where do you have concerns?

After a few minutes, take reports (from individuals or small groups), one question at a time. Make sure you get all replies to the first question before proceeding to the second. Once all the reactions have been shared, ask the group, “What are we learning about this proposal/decision?” to help everyone integrate all that has been shared and arrive at conclusions.


PALPaRCreating an effective exchange in

response to some proposal

Before you begin, summarize the process and then proceed as follows:

Present: Make the presentation.Ask: Participants to talk in small groups. Provide specific directions, (e.g., Three Reaction Questions).Listen: Take reports from each small group. Get responses to one question at a time. Record the feedback where all can see.Pause: Take a few minutes (or longer) to reflect on the feedback and develop a thoughtful response and…Reply: Summarize what you heard and then how you are respond to the feedback.


Four ResponsibilitiesSharing the work of running the meeting

Ask for volunteers to share the following specific responsibilities:

Discussion leader: Makes sure each person who wants to speak is able to contribute in the time available.

Timekeeper: Keeps track of the time available. Alerts group when time is running out. Asks group what they want to do if more time is needed.

Recorder: Uses flip chart or white board to visibly record the real time progress of the group’s discussion where all can see it. This should be done in a way that uses a few words to capture each speaker’s comment.

Information manager/minutes: Maintains the formal documentation and recorded minutes of the group’s work. (Most boards have an appointed secretary who fulfills this role but this is different from the Recorder.)


Five “Cs” Of Decision MakingChoosing how to decide with a group

Productive engagement requires being clear how you want to reach decisions. There are five ways to reach decisions with a group, “5Cs”

Consensus

Consent

Compromise

Counting

Consulting

All agree

Acceptable as its has no downside

We all give up something to reach a decision

Voting. Decision with most votes “wins”

Providing input to person responsible for

decision


Three Follow-Up Questions: Learning from a Balanced Review of

Progress

Bring the group together to review progress (within 45 days). Discuss the following questions in this order. Balance time and attention across all 3. You can modify the questions to fit the situation, but keep all 3 types.

1. What has been accomplished as planned?

2. What hasn’t been accomplished as planned?

3. What can we learn about making progress in this area from our answers to questions 1 and 2?


Questions so far?


What About “Robert’s Rules?”

Structural approaches can be used in combination with Robert’s Rules for more effective discussion and decisions.

The case of a $250K capital expense decision.

Creating a structure for dialogue “outside” of Robert’s Rules essential. One way to do this follows PALPaR


“What 1-2 questions do we need addressed to be ready to take a vote?”

Gaining Commitment to a Key Financial Decision

PALPaR:PresentAskListenPause andReply


Additional Resources

Rick’s e-book, Meeting for Results Tool Kit, is available on Amazon and other e-book retailers. It contains directions for over 30 tools to help you structure more effective meetings.

His new book, Building Meetings that Work: A complete guide to achieving results from meetings will be published in the spring. It includes example agendas, approaches to difficult situations, a chapter on effective virtual meetings, many more tools. Contact Rick to learn more at:

[email protected] or 1-978-580-4262

Also see Rick’s blog at www.meetingforresults.com/blog or sign up for his newsletter.


February, 12 @ 2:00 PM ESTRegister Today!

Small Membership Advisory CommunityRunning Effective Board Meetings

https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/3727591072256280066


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Thank you for participating in this webinar.

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Expert Webinar Series: Tools for More Effective Board Meetings - Feb 5, 2015