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Accelerate The Quality of Every Meeting -The Easy Way
| Guest post by: Peter deLisser |
Article Overview: Courageous Participation Pays Off - For Everyone. Each team member accepts 100% responsibility for the result of each meeting. The success of the meeting depends on time spent - 50% prior planning, 15% conducting the meeting, and 35% participants' follow-up.
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Free Download - What Communication Habit(s) are you Addicted to? By Peter deLisser |
Accelerate The Quality of Every Meeting -The Easy Way
Accelerate the quality of every meeting the easy way: Expect every participant - from themeeting manager to each attendee - to accept 100% responsibility for the results.
We can imagine what the first reaction by meeting participants will be.
"Wow! How can I be responsible for the quality of each meeting I attend? Most of the time I am only a participant. It's not my meeting."
No! This is not true. It's everybody's meeting. Every participant is responsible for the two major components of a quality meeting - courageous participation and time management.
Courageous Participation Pays Off - For Everyone
A research director for a client company choose not to speak up in meetings. When asked why she didn't speak up, she said: "I am not going to compete with all the sales and marketing people who talk all the time to impress people. I've been brought up to believe ‘self-praise stinks.' I don't have to impress anyone. Executives will call on me if they want information."
Since she was a research director, one of her strengths was asking searching, focused questions. It was suggested to her that in the next meeting she attended she risk asking at least one question.
When sharing the results of that meeting, with a big smile she said, "Yes, I asked one question - and it changed the whole meeting." She asked the one question no one had considered and it shifted the whole discussion to answer her question. What a responsible way- for a participant - to increase the quality of a meeting. She used her strength-asking questions.
50% Of The Quality of Every Meeting Depends on Time Management
Both the meeting manager and all participants need to spend 50% of their meeting time planning, 15% conducting/participating, and 35% following-up. For the meeting manager, he/she must spend 50% of the time planning before the meeting by doing tasks, such as:
- Determining specific objective(s) to be accomplished by end of meeting.
- Deciding what kind of meeting it will be: information sharing or decision-making.
- Selecting attendees based on the need for their contributions to the objectives.
- Sending agenda out in advance, with stated objectives, assignments to prepare, expected formats, time length.
- Selecting appropriate meeting room and audio/visual requirements
15% Of The Quality of Every Meeting Depends On Participation
The meeting manager spends 15% of his/her time during the meeting:
- Starting the meeting on time
- Sticking to the agenda so that all who have prepared get to contribute,
- Providing a safe, respectful environment so all will participate fully
- Completing objectives within announced time frames and developing action plans
- Summarizing results and expected individual follow-up actions
35% Of the Quality Of Every Meeting Depends On Follow-up
The meeting manager spends 35% of his/her time following-up AFTER the meeting:
- Sending out complete minutes including assignments and expected action dates for completion
- Providing periodic monitoring of people completing action plans
When these time guidelines are violated, we all know the results.
Follow-up questionnaires indicate that participants think poorly of meetings when:
- They are seen as unnecessary meetings: spur of the moment, too long, wrong people
- Attendees lack preparation, don't participate, or refuse accountability
- The agenda is off target, hidden, or there isn't one
- Unresolved issues arise, decisions aren't made, or deadlines are missed
- There is no closure or documentation of results
The Quality Of A Meeting May Be Accelerated By Participants' Risky Statements
What happens when meeting managers do not adhere to the time requirements? The participants are forced to accept responsibility for the quality of the meeting. Here are some risky statements/questions participants may consider to turnaround an unproductive meeting:
- It would be helpful for me to know what the agenda is (none was handed out) so that we can plan our contributions and our time.
- I'm confused. I am not sure which objective we are discussing. (Someone has sidetracked the meeting to their own agenda.)
- I am having a hard time hearing the speaker (directed at the person next to you who is in a side conversation).
- I'd like to hear what Mary/Bob have to say. (A major contributor has not spoken.) We haven't heard from him/her yet.
- It sounds to me like the conversation is getting personal. (Two people raising their voices at each other.) May we summarize each approach?
When are these statements/questions risky? They are risky when the meeting manager is a senior executive and not skilled in managing meetings. But if an organization's employee vision statement says to develop "an atmosphere of trust and respect, in which management listens and responds appropriately," they should respect and adhere to that vision. The effective management of all meetings is required if we expect all meeting participants to be responsible for the quality of each meeting.
Before your next meeting, whether as meeting manager or participant, consider spending 50% your planning for it, 15% participating courageously and 35% following up productively. Accelerating the quality of the meeting will then be easy.
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Article Tags: meeting management, participation, team member
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About the Author: Peter deLisser RSS for Peter's articles - Visit Peter's website Peter deLisser is President of Responsible Communications. He provides the ABCs of Leadership for business organizations - Accelerates a Leader's Personal Communications, Builds Productivity in New (and Old) Teams, and Creates 100% Responsible Leadership Meetings - In-Person, Electronically, and Globally. National Recognition: Fortune Magazine featured Pete in their article "The Executive's New Coach." His book "Be Your Own Executive Coach" was published nationally in 1999, in Japanese 2001, Korean 2006. He built a 14 Person Marketing Team on 5 continents. The International Listening Association named him "2006 Business Listener Of The Year." Also ILA published his articles, "100% Responsibility Turns Fantasy into Reality" and "Give the Gift of Listening". Clients: His clients are Fortune 500, including BusinessWeek, Philip Morris, Hoffman La Roche, and McGraw-Hill. Previous Experience: Includes Manager or Human Resources, Executive Outplacement Counseling, National Sales Training Manager, Vice President of Sales. Earlier in his career he coached college football at Williams College and Columbia University. Click here to visit Peter's website   The Best Kept Secret In Business Team Managed Meetings Save Time Energy and Build Relationships Make Every Conversation a Sales Call My Boss is a Screamer Accelerate The Quality of Every Meeting The Easy Way What Communication Habits are you Addicted to |
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