Effective Meetings Depend Upon Your Participation

from Able Leader, July 2006

by Steve Kaye

Most likely you've sat in dismay while a meeting tumbled off into nowhere.

You know what happened: stories, side issues, trivia, chit chat, and stuff like that overran the good intentions of those who were trying to accomplish something.

Maybe the meeting even started with a clear goal with a real agenda.

But somehow, it ended up a failure.

Why?

The reason is: a meeting can be led (or misled) from any chair in the room.

That is, individual contributions (however small) determine the net result produced by any group activity.

Here's how to make sure that your participation contributes to an effective meeting. And please send this newsletter to anyone who might benefit from knowing these tips.

1) Focus on the issue.
Avoid stories, jokes, and unrelated topics. These waste time, distract the attendees, and mislead people. Save the fun and trivia for social events when it will be appreciated.

2) Take a moment to organize your thoughts before speaking.
Then express your idea simply, logically, and concisely. People are more receptive to ideas that they understand. In fact, long complex explanations bore people.

3) Use positive comments in the meeting.
Negative statements create defensive reactions or retaliations that take people away from solutions. Such comments also make you appear mean, uncooperative, weak, or incompetent. For example, saying, "I can't do that," sounds powerless.

4) Seek "how" instead of "why."
While we may be interested in history, real value seldom arises from asking questions such as, "Who did this?" or "Why did that happen?" Most progress comes from finding solutions, which comes from asking questions such as, "How can we fix this?" or "What do we do next?"

5) Hire a facilitator.
This is especially important if you are working on complex or controversial issues. It frees you to contribute to the work in these meetings and gives responsibility for keeping order to an impartial party. Often attendees are more willing to support results obtained with the help of a skilled facilitator.

6) Test your comments.
Before speaking, ask yourself, "Does this contribute to an effective meeting?" If you sense it subtracts, keep silent. Jot down the idea, thereby saving it so that your mind is free to think about what others are saying.

7) Use structured activities.
These group activities use equitable participation to make systematic progress toward results. Note that discussion is the least structured and least effective activity for a meeting. (My workshop on Effective Meetings shows people how to use structured activities to achieve results by working as a team.)

8) Respect others.
Different views force us to think. After all, if we were all the same, they would need only one of us. Thus, accept what others say as being valid from their viewpoint. Work to understand why others are expressing ideas that you find disagreeable.

9) Take a rest.
If you notice that you are speaking more than anyone else in a meeting, let others talk. You're either dominating the meeting with monologues or conducting a conversation with a minority of the participants. In either case, you're preventing the other attendees from participating.

10) Check for win/win.
When voting, give the attendees veto power over ideas that they strongly oppose. This means that one person could stop an idea that everyone else supports. Recognize that you are seeking results that benefit your entire organization. Thus, an idea that damages one person, is a poor idea, even if everyone else likes it. This avoids sabotage or partial support from people who were forced to accept decisions that they considered harmful.

Much success,

Steve Kaye
714-528-1300