Tweet

The Best Kept Secret In Business! Team Managed Meetings Save Time, Energy, and Build Relationships

Written by: Peter deLisser

Article Overview: Meeting Leader: "Welcome to our Team Meeting." I Accept 100% Responsibility For My Participation- MAYBE! The Job of A Facilitator Team Managed Meetings Are A Company's Great Asset

The Best Kept Secret In Business! Team Managed Meetings Save Time, Energy, and Build Relationships

When was the last time you went to a meeting which accomplished the recognized standard for evaluating the success of any meeting - the results will be worth twice the salaries of the Team Members in the meeting- time wise. A Consistently Productive Meeting! What would a meeting which met recognized standards sound like? It might start this way:

Meeting Leader: "Welcome to our Team Meeting."

• - The meeting objectives are 1)_ 2)_ 3)_ so everyone is aware of what we need to accomplish between now and our meeting end at ________(time)
• - The agenda was sent out in advance. Are there any additions or deletions we should consider at this time so that your expectations might be met?
• - I have invited Pete to facilitate our meeting to keep us on target and alert to possible distractions and deviations from our agenda. His commitment is to provide a productive, safe environment so we can contribute with confidence.
• - Pete will encourage each of us to accept 100% responsibility for what we gain and contribute to this meeting. So you can accomplish that goal, please speak up on any issue on the agenda that you consider important to the success of our Team.
• -Thank you, in advance, for your contribution to today's meeting

I Accept 100% Responsibility For My Participation- MAYBE! A major concept of Team Meeting Management is to expect every participant to be as responsible for the results of a meeting as the meeting manager.

That means that a team leader conducting a meeting would willing accept help from people during the meeting. Can you imagine how more productive meetings would be if participants accepted responsibility for the quality of meetings in the following ways:

a)(no advanced agenda) "I 'd appreciate it if we could agree to agenda items with some expected time frames to cover each "

b)(agenda is sidetracked) "I'm confused. Have we added an additional item to the agenda?"

c)(directed at side conversation)"Excuse me. I am having a hard time hearing "Mary."

d)(major resources not heard from)"I'd be interested to hear what Bill and Mary think."

Are statement/questions like these risky? You bet they can be

By Day's End 300 People Know How Productive The Meeting Was

However, we all have a choice to make in every meeting-to be a victim or be responsible. If we choose not to be a 100% responsible participant, for practical reasons, then we are also responsible to refrain from publicly complaining about the meeting afterwards. Meeting research indicates that before the end of the day, the grapevine will have notified up to 300 people in a company what the "results" of a meeting were. At least every participant can be responsible not to spread the word about how poor the meeting was, the one he/she sat in and choose to do nothing to improve.

The Job of A Facilitator The Facilitator's job is NOT to take over the meeting, which is what some Team leaders believe he/she might do, BUT TO ASSIST the meeting manager to conduct a productive meeting that meets his/her objectives and increases/demonstrates respect for each participant.

This partnership does not come easily. Trust needs to be developed.

Team Managed Meetings Work

What follows is an example of how Team Meeting Management works. As a Facilitator, I helped the Meeting Manager plan the agenda and timeframes for a national meeting in which representatives from across the country had been assigned specific presentations to make. This all-day meeting fell behind by lunch time because the presentations were being well received. The Meeting Manager continually dismissed my suggestions he limit the length of discussions after each presentation. At lunch I gave him a choice: "After lunch you may want to make an announcement that we will not have enough time for all the presentations." He grimaced. "We can't do that. They all put a lot of work into their assignments." Then you may choose to announce " we must stick to a strict time frame this afternoon. I've asked Pete to limit discussion after each presentation."

We made it through all the presentations with only brief discussions after each.

The Facilitator presents the issues. Meeting Manager is responsible for the choices.

Team Managed Meetings Are A Company's Great Asset Most Team Members spend as much as 50% of their time in a variety of meetings. Well run meetings have the potential for increased productivity and building relationships. They can be excellent opportunities to develop younger Team Members.

Unfortunately, meetings not managed by a Team waste time, energy and risk relationships.

Fortunately, Team Managed Meetings expect the Team Manager AND the Participants to jointly accept 100% responsibility for the final results.

Related Articles
  Assessing Team Communication
  Building Character - Move up when the pressure is on
  How to Stay Connected in a Virtual Team
  Motivate Your Sales Team by Making Your Meetings STICK!
  Ready to Save Time?

Article Tags: Asset, Productive Meetings, Teams



Related Forum Posts
My entry - 1. The Best Business Books Ever: The 100 Most Influential Business Books You'll Never Have Time to Read - this is a fascinating book about the history of Business theory, and I'd recommend it to anybody. 2. The Big Book of Small Business: You Don't Have to Run Your Business by the Seat of Your Pants, by Tom Gegax. Ditto. 3. PADI: The Business of Diving Book Okay, so this book won't be of use to anyone who doesn't want to start a scuba store, but I did, and this book was of course invaluable to me in reaching that goal.
Supporters vs detractors - [quote:3rnq5c3o]“My mother kept telling me nobody wanted a plain English Major…I felt dreadfully inadequate.[/quote:3rnq5c3o] Just goes to show the influence parents have on their kids. Build them up, don't tear them down! Time enough to do that when their older and can deal with criticism...
Re: Great start, but no finish - My advise is FOCUS on your business. Focusing is the main factor to succeed on business. If you have a great idea, then follow it only, don't look anywhere else. It is especially essential in an online business. Because there are a lot of mind blowing sales letters promising millions dolllars or overnight success, people find it difficult to concentrate on one business and they lose their energy. Concept is simple. 1- Have a good idea; 2- Build your business on it; 3- Monetize your business; 4- Promote it; 5- Build list of responsive customers; 6- Maintain You Business. Focusing and not fearing from competition (instead you can learn from competitiors) are main tips of billionaires ,BTW. Orxan
Clothing Niche - Yasunori, can you dig deeper into the clothing niche? e.g. Business Casual for people 6ft and taller (men only, women only or both). Victoria Secret is big in Canada because they don't have retail Stores here and the only way to get their product in Canada is thru online purchases. They have a great Hassle-free return policy too.
Question: What has been your biggest business challenge? - Regardless of the industry they may be in, it seems all small business owners and entrepreneurs face similar key challenges in growing their business and becoming as profitable as they would like. These can be grouped into the categories of "Time", "Team", "Money", and "Exit Strategy". What has been your most significant challenge, the one that seems to be your biggest hurdle to moving forward and achieving the level of business success (however you define that) that you would like to? If you could have one issue solved in your business, what would that be? Your insights are invaluable and I appreciate your honesty. Regards, Gavin


Share this article with your friends. Fund someone's dream.

Leave a comment below or share on the left and you'll help support entrepreneurs in Africa through our partnership with Kiva. Over $50,000 raised and counting - Please keep sharing! Learn more.

Tweet

Newsletter

Get advice & tips from famous business
owners, new articles by entrepreneur
experts, my latest website updates, &
special sneak peaks at what's to come!

Name:
Email:

Popular Articles

SEO Gurus, Software and Ebooks

What Is The Foundation for Your Vision?

Executive Blind Spots

Suggestions

Email us your ideas on how to make our
website more valuable! Thank you Sharon
from Toronto Salsa Lessons / Classes for
your suggestions to make the newsletter
look like the website and profile younger
entrepreneurs like Jennifer Lopez.