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BETTER MEETINGS
More Good Stuff from The Learning Maverick




                                        © 2012 Maverick Learning Designs
About this Booklet
• Although I present this in the form of a PowerPoint
 presentation, this is really a booklet to be read and not
 something to be projected on a wall in a group setting.




                                            wrong


             right
                                              © 2012 Maverick Learning Designs
About this Booklet
• Although I present this in the form of a PowerPoint
  presentation, this is really a booklet to be read and not
  something to be projected on a wall in a group setting.
• If you’d like others to read this, please send them a link
  via Twitter, LinkedIn or Facebook, rather than distribute
  hard copies. I’m told that this will increase my ranking on
  Google and thus my chances of becoming rich and
  famous one day.




                                              © 2012 Maverick Learning Designs
About this Booklet
• Although I present this in the form of a PowerPoint
  presentation, this is really a booklet to be read and not
  something to be projected on a wall in a group setting.
• If you’d like others to read this, please send them a link
  via Twitter, LinkedIn or Facebook, rather than distribute
  hard copies. I’m told that this will increase my ranking on
  Google and thus my chances of becoming rich and
  famous one day.
• If you’d like to have a version of this booklet suitable to a
  group setting, or a cooler, more interactive version
  suitable for online self-study, just ask; you’ll find my
  contact info on the final slide.
                                                © 2012 Maverick Learning Designs
Your Objective
• You will find this learning experience very helpful if your
 objective is to become better able to organize and
 facilitate meetings that accomplish more in less time.




                                                © 2012 Maverick Learning Designs
What’s at Stake
• You’re probably not in the habit of spending your
 company’s money on things that bring no return. You
 might, however, be squandering thousands—or even tens
 of thousands—of dollars each year through bad meeting
 management habits.




                                              © 2012 Maverick Learning Designs
What’s at Stake
• You’re probably not in the habit of spending your
  company’s money on things that bring no return. You
  might, however, be squandering thousands—or even tens
  of thousands—of dollars each year through bad meeting
  management habits.
• Imagine that the average cost to the company of an hour
  of a participant’s time is $50. That means that the “bill” for
  a three-hour meeting of ten people is $1,500. As a good
  steward of your company’s resources, you want to ensure
  that it gets more than $1,500 dollars worth of bang for its
  1,500 bucks.


                                                © 2012 Maverick Learning Designs
Why Meet at All?
• As a general rule, only hold meetings when there are
 questions which can best be answered through group
 discussion.




                                            © 2012 Maverick Learning Designs
Why Meet at All?
• As a general rule, only hold meetings when there are
  questions which can best be answered through group
  discussion.
• As a general rule, don’t hold meetings if your objective is
  to disseminate information. Do it via email or postcard or
  carrier pigeon; if your audience can “get it” by reading it,
  don’t gather them together and read it to them.




                                               © 2012 Maverick Learning Designs
What if They Don’t Read It?
• It happens that some of the people to whom you send
 information won’t read it. This is not a good reason to
 hold a meeting.




                                             © 2012 Maverick Learning Designs
What if They Don’t Read It?
• It happens that some of the people to whom you send
  information won’t read it. This is not a good reason to
  hold a meeting.
• If someone screws up because they didn’t “get the
  memo,” ask them nicely what prevented them from doing
  so and work together to ensure that the same obstacle
  won’t be in the road next time.




                                           © 2012 Maverick Learning Designs
What if They Don’t Read It?
• It happens that some of the people to whom you send
  information won’t read it. This is not a good reason to
  hold a meeting.
• If someone screws up because they didn’t “get the
  memo,” ask them nicely what prevented them from doing
  so and work together to ensure that the same obstacle
  won’t be in the road next time.
• If someone comes up with lame excuses (“too busy.” “I
  forgot,” “I had a lot of stuff in my inbox that day”) for not
  having read their mail, ask them if they wish to remain in
  the group, and make it clear that reading their mail is a
  condition of membership.
                                                © 2012 Maverick Learning Designs
13 Heads Aren’t Better Than One
• The widely-held belief that a group will arrive at better
  answers to questions than would an individual is not
  grounded in solid research.
• Here’s why:




                                                © 2012 Maverick Learning Designs
13 Heads Aren’t Better Than One
• The widely-held belief that a group will arrive at better
  answers to questions than would an individual is not
  grounded in solid research.
• Here’s why:
   • Group discussion often squelches individual
     contributions that are novel.




                                                © 2012 Maverick Learning Designs
13 Heads Aren’t Better Than One
• The widely-held belief that a group will arrive at better
  answers to questions than would an individual is not
  grounded in solid research.
• Here’s why:
   • Group discussion often squelches individual
     contributions that are novel.
   • The garrulous members who consume most of the
     airtime during meetings often block more introverted
     members from contributing at all




                                                © 2012 Maverick Learning Designs
Gunning for “Buy-in”
• It’s a good idea to involve the people who will need to
 support decisions in the discussions that will generate
 those decisions.




                                              © 2012 Maverick Learning Designs
Gunning for “Buy-in”
• It’s a good idea to involve the people who will need to
  support decisions in the discussions that will generate
  those decisions.
• If there are 12 decisions to be made and 12 individuals
  are vested in all of them, by all means get everyone into
  the same room (actual or virtual) to hash everything out.




                                              © 2012 Maverick Learning Designs
Gunning for “Buy-in”
• It’s a good idea to involve the people who will need to
  support decisions in the discussions that will generate
  those decisions.
• If there are 12 decisions to be made and 12 individuals
  are vested in all of them, by all means get everyone into
  the same room (actual or virtual) to hash everything out.
• Often, however, a given decision is generally of interest
  only to members of a subset of the whole. While these
  matters are being discussed in meetings of the whole,
  uninterested participants will often check-out mentally,
  making their attendance during that portion of the event a
  waste of time and money.
                                              © 2012 Maverick Learning Designs
An Alternative
• An alternative to having every person in a group
 participate in making every decision that is before the
 group is to assign the decision making to an individual or
 constitute a sub-group. You will charge these individuals
 or groups with making decisions concerning assigned
 questions and communicating these decisions to you and
 other members of the larger group.




                                             © 2012 Maverick Learning Designs
An Alternative
• An alternative to having every person in a group
  participate in making every decision that is before the
  group is to assign the decision making to an individual or
  constitute a sub-group. You will charge these individuals
  or groups with making decisions concerning assigned
  questions and communicating these decisions to you and
  other members of the larger group.
• When the decisions made by sub-groups are laid out
  before non-sub-group members, you will encourage the
  latter to raise questions, but leave it to the sub-group
  members to decide whether to reopen their discussions.


                                             © 2012 Maverick Learning Designs
What about Relationship-Building
• Those who say that bringing a group to work together in a
 room will strengthen relationships among them aren’t
 completely wrong. A member may build stronger
 relationships faster by working within a subgroup,
 however, than by scrabbling to contribute in a larger group
 setting.




                                             © 2012 Maverick Learning Designs
Communicate ASAP
• Don’t wait until meetings of the whole to announce
 decisions reached by sub-groups. Have members of the
 sub-groups communicate their decisions to all as soon as
 they are reached.




                                             © 2012 Maverick Learning Designs
Communicate ASAP
• Don’t wait until meetings of the whole to announce
  decisions reached by sub-groups. Have members of the
  sub-groups communicate their decisions to all as soon as
  they are reached.
• Similarly, members of a sub-group that finds itself in need
  of involvement by others, should involve them
  immediately, not waiting to do so until the next meeting of
  the whole.




                                              © 2012 Maverick Learning Designs
Accountability
• It is very difficult to hold a committee accountable. If you
 constitute sub-groups, make one person accountable for
 bringing back a decision, by a given deadline.




                                                © 2012 Maverick Learning Designs
Accountability
• It is very difficult to hold a committee accountable. If you
  constitute sub-groups, make one person accountable for
  bringing back a decision, by a given deadline.
• Be stern with sub-group leaders who fail to come through.
  Ask them forthrightly, “What help do you need to meet
  your commitments? Should I ask someone else to
  assume the leader’s role? Can I count on you next time?”




                                                © 2012 Maverick Learning Designs
Reinforce with Recognition
• When individuals and sub-groups meet their
 commitments, be lavish with recognition and deliver this
 publicly, either via email or in the next meeting of the
 whole. If you put it in writing, copy members’ managers.
  • Your recognition will reinforce the commitment of your
    members to continue to act “rightly.”




                                             © 2012 Maverick Learning Designs
An Agenda for Action
• You’ll be hosting some meetings of your whole group, of
 course. Your first responsibility as the meeting owner is to
 distribute what I’ll call an “Agenda for Action.”




                                             © 2012 Maverick Learning Designs
An Agenda for Action
• You’ll be hosting some meetings of your whole group, of
  course. Your first responsibility as the meeting owner is to
  distribute what I’ll call an “Agenda for Action.”
• Your Agenda for Action will consist of a list of questions to
  be answered during the meeting. These will be full
  sentences, not a list of nouns/topics “to be discussed.”




                                               © 2012 Maverick Learning Designs
An Agenda for Action
• You’ll be hosting some meetings of your whole group, of
  course. Your first responsibility as the meeting owner is to
  distribute what I’ll call an “Agenda for Action.”
• Your Agenda for Action will consist of a list of questions to
  be answered during the meeting. These will be full
  sentences, not a list of nouns/topics “to be discussed.”
• The problem with giving attendees the traditional list of
  topics is that different members will tend to contribute
  whatever comes into their minds with respect to the topic,
  whether or not their thoughts are germane to the
  decisions to be made. This wastes time and generates
  confusion and even resentment.
                                               © 2012 Maverick Learning Designs
An Example
• Here is an example of an Agenda for Action of a meeting
 of a group assembled to plan a company picnic. (For
 simplicity’s sake, I’m assuming here that no decisions
 have been delegated to individuals or subgroups.)
  1. When will we have the picnic?
  2. What number of attendees do we expect?
  3. Where will we have the picnic?
  4. What food, drinks, etc. will the company provide?
  5. What equipment (coolers, grills, sporting gear) will we
      need?


                                             © 2012 Maverick Learning Designs
Upstream, Downstream - Agenda
• As you craft agendas and facilitate meetings, be
 conscious that some questions are “upstream” from
 others, meaning that the former must be answered before
 the latter can be answered.




                                             © 2012 Maverick Learning Designs
Upstream, Downstream - Agenda
• As you craft agendas and facilitate meetings, be
  conscious that some questions are “upstream” from
  others, meaning that the former must be answered before
  the latter can be answered.
• The sample agenda on the prior slide provides an
  example. The number of attendees must be decided—at
  least approximately—before the venue can be chosen:
  you don’t want to have 6 tables in a tiny park for a
  thousand attendees, or book Yankee Stadium for 19
  people and a dog



                                             © 2012 Maverick Learning Designs
Upstream, Downstream - Agenda
• As you craft agendas and facilitate meetings, be
  conscious that some questions are “upstream” from
  others, meaning that the former must be answered before
  the latter can be answered.
• The sample agenda on the prior slide provides an
  example. The number of attendees must be decided—at
  least approximately—before the venue can be chosen:
  you don’t want to have six tables in a tiny park for a
  thousand attendees, or book Yankee Stadium for 19
  people and a dog
• Keep the stream in mind when you compose your
  agenda.
                                             © 2012 Maverick Learning Designs
Upstream, Downstream - Facilitation
• Keep the stream in mind also as you facilitate your
 meetings. Be ready to intervene in the discussion with
 comments and questions like these:
  • John, we decided earlier on Yankee Stadium and are
    now deciding what equipment will be needed. Do you
    feel strongly that we should go back upstream and
    reconsider the choice of venue?
  • Susan, I like the idea of setting up a Frisbee golf
    course, but the question, “What equipment do we
    need?” is, I think, downstream from the question,
    “Where shall we have the picnic?” How would you feel
    about holding back for a bit on the golf question?
                                             © 2012 Maverick Learning Designs
Pulling Rank/Polling the Group
• When someone in your meeting feels strongly that an
 upstream decision should be reconsidered, you don’t
 necessarily need to go there immediately, or at all.
 Instead, consider pulling rank or polling the group.




                                           © 2012 Maverick Learning Designs
Pulling Rank/Polling the Group
• When someone in your meeting feels strongly that an
  upstream decision should be reconsidered, you don’t
  necessarily need to go there immediately, or at all.
  Instead, consider pulling rank or polling the group.
• As the meeting owner, you have every right to say, “I hear
  you Stan, but our timetable is tight. I feel strongly that
  Yankee Stadium is a good choice and we need to
  continue to move forward through our other decisions.




                                             © 2012 Maverick Learning Designs
Pulling Rank/Polling the Group
• When someone in your meeting feels strongly that an
  upstream decision should be reconsidered, you don’t
  necessarily need to go there immediately, or at all.
  Instead, consider pulling rank or polling the group.
• As the meeting owner, you have every right to say, “I hear
  you Stan, but our timetable is tight. I feel strongly that
  Yankee Stadium is a good choice and we need to
  continue to move forward through our other decisions.
• Another option is to poll the group. Say something like,
  “Stan feels strongly that we should return to x. Would
  anyone like to add their support to Stan? Who feels we
  should continue to move downstream?”
                                             © 2012 Maverick Learning Designs
New Questions
• New questions will often be raised during discussion but
 you don’t necessarily have to admit them for discussion
 immediately. First, the group has—or you have—to make
 two decisions:
  • Should the matter be discussed at all?
  • When should the discussion be held relative to the other
    questions already in the stream?




                                             © 2012 Maverick Learning Designs
New Questions
• New questions will often be raised during discussion but
  you don’t necessarily have to admit them for discussion
  immediately. First, the group has—or you have—to make
  two decisions:
   • Should the matter be discussed at all?
   • When should the discussion be held relative to the other
     questions already in the stream?
• If the answers to these questions aren’t immediately
  apparent to the group, ask the other members for their
  input before diving into an unplanned discussion.



                                              © 2012 Maverick Learning Designs
Never Forget
• If a new question is voiced but the group decides to
 address it downstream, be sure to write down the
 question and the name of the person who raised it. Be
 sure that it appears in a future agenda, or the member in
 question will be disappointed, or even resentful.




                                              © 2012 Maverick Learning Designs
When the Going Gets Tough
• You will sometimes need to intervene when the group
 seems blocked by an apparently insurmountable obstacle
 or when there are such strong differences of opinion that
 neither side seems ready to yield.




                                            © 2012 Maverick Learning Designs
When the Going Gets Tough
• You will sometimes need to intervene when the group
  seems blocked by an apparently insurmountable obstacle
  or when there are such strong differences of opinion that
  neither side seems ready to yield.
• In these cases, consider pushing the matter to a back
  burner and attending instead to other questions on the
  agenda. If that’s not an option, make an executive
  decision to go one way or the other, but make an offer to
  meet offline with the contentious individuals and
  reconsider your decision if warranted.



                                             © 2012 Maverick Learning Designs
Who, What, When
• Most of the decisions you make together with your
 members create Action Items which together constitute
 your Action Plan. To be most useful, these items need to
 specify who, what and when.




                                            © 2012 Maverick Learning Designs
Who, What, When
• Most of the decisions you make together with your
  members create Action Items which together constitute
  your Action Plan. To be most useful, these items need to
  specify who, what and when.
• Here are a couple of examples:
   • John (who) will locate a source for bocce balls and have
     costs for us (what) by the end of the week (when.)
   • Louise (who) will hire a polka band (what) by the 4th
     (when.)




                                              © 2012 Maverick Learning Designs
Who, What, When
• Most of the decisions you make together with your
  members create Action Items which together constitute
  your Action Plan. To be most useful, these items need to
  specify who, what and when.
• Here are a couple of examples:
   • John (who) will locate a source for bocce balls and have
     costs for us (what) by the end of the week (when.)
   • Louise (who) will hire a polka band (what) by the 4th
     (when.)
• Leaving who, what and when unspecified dramatically
  increases the likelihood of slippage. You’ll hear, “Oh, was
  I supposed to do that?” or “You needed that today?”
                                              © 2012 Maverick Learning Designs
After the Meeting
• As soon as possible after a meeting, distribute your
 updated Action Plan with a cover message that urges
 recipients to review their commitments carefully and let
 you know immediately if they are in any doubt that they’ll
 meet a deadline.




                                              © 2012 Maverick Learning Designs
After the Meeting
• As soon as possible after a meeting, distribute your
 updated Action Plan with a cover message that urges
 recipients to review their commitments carefully and let
 you know immediately if they are in any doubt that they’ll
 meet a deadline.
  • Don’t fail to use this opportunity to recognize members
    who have met prior commitments.




                                              © 2012 Maverick Learning Designs
Between Meetings
• If it will be a week or more until your next meeting, check-
 in a few days before the meeting with any individuals or
 sub-groups whose decisions must be made before the
 whole group convenes.




                                               © 2012 Maverick Learning Designs
Between Meetings
• If it will be a week or more until your next meeting, check-
  in a few days before the meeting with any individuals or
  sub-groups whose decisions must be made before the
  whole group convenes.
• A nice way to do this is to say, “I know you’ll have the cost
  on the bocce balls for us Wednesday, Arturo, and I have
  that on the agenda. Are there any new questions that I
  should also include on the agenda?”




                                               © 2012 Maverick Learning Designs
Between Meetings
• If it will be a week or more until your next meeting, check-
  in a few days before the meeting with any individuals or
  sub-groups whose decisions must be made before the
  whole group convenes.
• A nice way to do this is to say, “I know you’ll have the cost
  on the bocce balls for us Wednesday, Arturo, and I have
  that on the agenda. Are there any new questions that I
  should also include on the agenda?”
• Be sure to have the agenda for an upcoming meetings in
  the hands of members at least 24 business hours in
  advance.


                                               © 2012 Maverick Learning Designs
Seeking Feedback
• Despite your good intentions, someone in your group may
 become frustrated with you over the way you handle a
 particular matter, or your performance overall.




                                           © 2012 Maverick Learning Designs
Seeking Feedback
• Despite your good intentions, someone in your group may
  become frustrated with you over the way you handle a
  particular matter, or your performance overall.
• Unfortunately, people tend to nurse grievances privately.
  That means you have to be proactive in soliciting
  feedback between meetings.




                                              © 2012 Maverick Learning Designs
Seeking Feedback
• Despite your good intentions, someone in your group may
  become frustrated with you over the way you handle a
  particular matter, or your performance overall.
• Unfortunately, people tend to nurse grievances privately.
  That means you have to be proactive in soliciting
  feedback between meetings.
• Don’t think that saying, “Please let me know if you have
  any concerns,” will do the trick. Instead, call one or two
  members between meetings and ask these questions:
   • What could improve our meetings?
   • What can I, personally, do or stop doing that will help us
     be more effective as a group?
                                               © 2012 Maverick Learning Designs
Preparing Participants
• If you follow my suggestions, be sure and let your group
 members know what is expected of them, before they
 come together for your first meeting.




                                             © 2012 Maverick Learning Designs
Preparing Participants
• If you follow my suggestions, be sure and let your group
  members know what is expected of them, before they
  come together for your first meeting.
• Concepts like “upstream/downstream” and “who, what
  and when” will be hard for some to fully understand at
  first, Doing what you can to prepare your group’s
  members to go with the flow will minimize the number of
  times they will feel that they’ve “done it the wrong way.”




                                              © 2012 Maverick Learning Designs
Ground Rules
• Something else to give your members before the first
 meeting is a list of proposed ground rules for discussions.
 These might include items such as…
 • No interruptions
 • Seek first to understand, then to be understood.
 • Cell phones off.
 • No side conversations




                                             © 2012 Maverick Learning Designs
Emphasize Progress
• Frequently remind members of a standing group how far
 they’ve come and how far they have yet to go. Be specific
 about the contributions members have made and why
 they’ve been important.
  • Don’t use precious meeting time for this sort of speech-
    making. Put it in writing—and copy everyone you can
    think of with a stake in the outcome.




                                             © 2012 Maverick Learning Designs
And in Conclusion
• You’ve learned here…
 • Why expressing agenda items as questions will bring
   greater focus to discussions.
 • Delegating some decisions to sub-groups will help
   minimize wasting the time of members in the larger
   group.
 • Why Action items must specify Who will act, What they
   will do and by When they will do it.
 • Why members of a group must be held accountable for
   meeting their commitments to other members.




                                          © 2012 Maverick Learning Designs
Thanks!
• Thanks for reading this little treatise. I’ve always liked
  visiting (your town) and spending a little time with you,
  (your name.)
• If you’d like to provide feedback or tell a bit about your
  own experiences, I’d be delighted to hear from you. You
  can reach me through several channels:
   • dennisafahey@maverickld.com
   • Learningmaverick.com (WordPress)
   • @dennisafahey (Twitter)




                                                 © 2012 Maverick Learning Designs
Bye, now!

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Better Meetings - More Good Stuff from the Learning Maverick

  • 1. BETTER MEETINGS More Good Stuff from The Learning Maverick © 2012 Maverick Learning Designs
  • 2. About this Booklet • Although I present this in the form of a PowerPoint presentation, this is really a booklet to be read and not something to be projected on a wall in a group setting. wrong right © 2012 Maverick Learning Designs
  • 3. About this Booklet • Although I present this in the form of a PowerPoint presentation, this is really a booklet to be read and not something to be projected on a wall in a group setting. • If you’d like others to read this, please send them a link via Twitter, LinkedIn or Facebook, rather than distribute hard copies. I’m told that this will increase my ranking on Google and thus my chances of becoming rich and famous one day. © 2012 Maverick Learning Designs
  • 4. About this Booklet • Although I present this in the form of a PowerPoint presentation, this is really a booklet to be read and not something to be projected on a wall in a group setting. • If you’d like others to read this, please send them a link via Twitter, LinkedIn or Facebook, rather than distribute hard copies. I’m told that this will increase my ranking on Google and thus my chances of becoming rich and famous one day. • If you’d like to have a version of this booklet suitable to a group setting, or a cooler, more interactive version suitable for online self-study, just ask; you’ll find my contact info on the final slide. © 2012 Maverick Learning Designs
  • 5. Your Objective • You will find this learning experience very helpful if your objective is to become better able to organize and facilitate meetings that accomplish more in less time. © 2012 Maverick Learning Designs
  • 6. What’s at Stake • You’re probably not in the habit of spending your company’s money on things that bring no return. You might, however, be squandering thousands—or even tens of thousands—of dollars each year through bad meeting management habits. © 2012 Maverick Learning Designs
  • 7. What’s at Stake • You’re probably not in the habit of spending your company’s money on things that bring no return. You might, however, be squandering thousands—or even tens of thousands—of dollars each year through bad meeting management habits. • Imagine that the average cost to the company of an hour of a participant’s time is $50. That means that the “bill” for a three-hour meeting of ten people is $1,500. As a good steward of your company’s resources, you want to ensure that it gets more than $1,500 dollars worth of bang for its 1,500 bucks. © 2012 Maverick Learning Designs
  • 8. Why Meet at All? • As a general rule, only hold meetings when there are questions which can best be answered through group discussion. © 2012 Maverick Learning Designs
  • 9. Why Meet at All? • As a general rule, only hold meetings when there are questions which can best be answered through group discussion. • As a general rule, don’t hold meetings if your objective is to disseminate information. Do it via email or postcard or carrier pigeon; if your audience can “get it” by reading it, don’t gather them together and read it to them. © 2012 Maverick Learning Designs
  • 10. What if They Don’t Read It? • It happens that some of the people to whom you send information won’t read it. This is not a good reason to hold a meeting. © 2012 Maverick Learning Designs
  • 11. What if They Don’t Read It? • It happens that some of the people to whom you send information won’t read it. This is not a good reason to hold a meeting. • If someone screws up because they didn’t “get the memo,” ask them nicely what prevented them from doing so and work together to ensure that the same obstacle won’t be in the road next time. © 2012 Maverick Learning Designs
  • 12. What if They Don’t Read It? • It happens that some of the people to whom you send information won’t read it. This is not a good reason to hold a meeting. • If someone screws up because they didn’t “get the memo,” ask them nicely what prevented them from doing so and work together to ensure that the same obstacle won’t be in the road next time. • If someone comes up with lame excuses (“too busy.” “I forgot,” “I had a lot of stuff in my inbox that day”) for not having read their mail, ask them if they wish to remain in the group, and make it clear that reading their mail is a condition of membership. © 2012 Maverick Learning Designs
  • 13. 13 Heads Aren’t Better Than One • The widely-held belief that a group will arrive at better answers to questions than would an individual is not grounded in solid research. • Here’s why: © 2012 Maverick Learning Designs
  • 14. 13 Heads Aren’t Better Than One • The widely-held belief that a group will arrive at better answers to questions than would an individual is not grounded in solid research. • Here’s why: • Group discussion often squelches individual contributions that are novel. © 2012 Maverick Learning Designs
  • 15. 13 Heads Aren’t Better Than One • The widely-held belief that a group will arrive at better answers to questions than would an individual is not grounded in solid research. • Here’s why: • Group discussion often squelches individual contributions that are novel. • The garrulous members who consume most of the airtime during meetings often block more introverted members from contributing at all © 2012 Maverick Learning Designs
  • 16. Gunning for “Buy-in” • It’s a good idea to involve the people who will need to support decisions in the discussions that will generate those decisions. © 2012 Maverick Learning Designs
  • 17. Gunning for “Buy-in” • It’s a good idea to involve the people who will need to support decisions in the discussions that will generate those decisions. • If there are 12 decisions to be made and 12 individuals are vested in all of them, by all means get everyone into the same room (actual or virtual) to hash everything out. © 2012 Maverick Learning Designs
  • 18. Gunning for “Buy-in” • It’s a good idea to involve the people who will need to support decisions in the discussions that will generate those decisions. • If there are 12 decisions to be made and 12 individuals are vested in all of them, by all means get everyone into the same room (actual or virtual) to hash everything out. • Often, however, a given decision is generally of interest only to members of a subset of the whole. While these matters are being discussed in meetings of the whole, uninterested participants will often check-out mentally, making their attendance during that portion of the event a waste of time and money. © 2012 Maverick Learning Designs
  • 19. An Alternative • An alternative to having every person in a group participate in making every decision that is before the group is to assign the decision making to an individual or constitute a sub-group. You will charge these individuals or groups with making decisions concerning assigned questions and communicating these decisions to you and other members of the larger group. © 2012 Maverick Learning Designs
  • 20. An Alternative • An alternative to having every person in a group participate in making every decision that is before the group is to assign the decision making to an individual or constitute a sub-group. You will charge these individuals or groups with making decisions concerning assigned questions and communicating these decisions to you and other members of the larger group. • When the decisions made by sub-groups are laid out before non-sub-group members, you will encourage the latter to raise questions, but leave it to the sub-group members to decide whether to reopen their discussions. © 2012 Maverick Learning Designs
  • 21. What about Relationship-Building • Those who say that bringing a group to work together in a room will strengthen relationships among them aren’t completely wrong. A member may build stronger relationships faster by working within a subgroup, however, than by scrabbling to contribute in a larger group setting. © 2012 Maverick Learning Designs
  • 22. Communicate ASAP • Don’t wait until meetings of the whole to announce decisions reached by sub-groups. Have members of the sub-groups communicate their decisions to all as soon as they are reached. © 2012 Maverick Learning Designs
  • 23. Communicate ASAP • Don’t wait until meetings of the whole to announce decisions reached by sub-groups. Have members of the sub-groups communicate their decisions to all as soon as they are reached. • Similarly, members of a sub-group that finds itself in need of involvement by others, should involve them immediately, not waiting to do so until the next meeting of the whole. © 2012 Maverick Learning Designs
  • 24. Accountability • It is very difficult to hold a committee accountable. If you constitute sub-groups, make one person accountable for bringing back a decision, by a given deadline. © 2012 Maverick Learning Designs
  • 25. Accountability • It is very difficult to hold a committee accountable. If you constitute sub-groups, make one person accountable for bringing back a decision, by a given deadline. • Be stern with sub-group leaders who fail to come through. Ask them forthrightly, “What help do you need to meet your commitments? Should I ask someone else to assume the leader’s role? Can I count on you next time?” © 2012 Maverick Learning Designs
  • 26. Reinforce with Recognition • When individuals and sub-groups meet their commitments, be lavish with recognition and deliver this publicly, either via email or in the next meeting of the whole. If you put it in writing, copy members’ managers. • Your recognition will reinforce the commitment of your members to continue to act “rightly.” © 2012 Maverick Learning Designs
  • 27. An Agenda for Action • You’ll be hosting some meetings of your whole group, of course. Your first responsibility as the meeting owner is to distribute what I’ll call an “Agenda for Action.” © 2012 Maverick Learning Designs
  • 28. An Agenda for Action • You’ll be hosting some meetings of your whole group, of course. Your first responsibility as the meeting owner is to distribute what I’ll call an “Agenda for Action.” • Your Agenda for Action will consist of a list of questions to be answered during the meeting. These will be full sentences, not a list of nouns/topics “to be discussed.” © 2012 Maverick Learning Designs
  • 29. An Agenda for Action • You’ll be hosting some meetings of your whole group, of course. Your first responsibility as the meeting owner is to distribute what I’ll call an “Agenda for Action.” • Your Agenda for Action will consist of a list of questions to be answered during the meeting. These will be full sentences, not a list of nouns/topics “to be discussed.” • The problem with giving attendees the traditional list of topics is that different members will tend to contribute whatever comes into their minds with respect to the topic, whether or not their thoughts are germane to the decisions to be made. This wastes time and generates confusion and even resentment. © 2012 Maverick Learning Designs
  • 30. An Example • Here is an example of an Agenda for Action of a meeting of a group assembled to plan a company picnic. (For simplicity’s sake, I’m assuming here that no decisions have been delegated to individuals or subgroups.) 1. When will we have the picnic? 2. What number of attendees do we expect? 3. Where will we have the picnic? 4. What food, drinks, etc. will the company provide? 5. What equipment (coolers, grills, sporting gear) will we need? © 2012 Maverick Learning Designs
  • 31. Upstream, Downstream - Agenda • As you craft agendas and facilitate meetings, be conscious that some questions are “upstream” from others, meaning that the former must be answered before the latter can be answered. © 2012 Maverick Learning Designs
  • 32. Upstream, Downstream - Agenda • As you craft agendas and facilitate meetings, be conscious that some questions are “upstream” from others, meaning that the former must be answered before the latter can be answered. • The sample agenda on the prior slide provides an example. The number of attendees must be decided—at least approximately—before the venue can be chosen: you don’t want to have 6 tables in a tiny park for a thousand attendees, or book Yankee Stadium for 19 people and a dog © 2012 Maverick Learning Designs
  • 33. Upstream, Downstream - Agenda • As you craft agendas and facilitate meetings, be conscious that some questions are “upstream” from others, meaning that the former must be answered before the latter can be answered. • The sample agenda on the prior slide provides an example. The number of attendees must be decided—at least approximately—before the venue can be chosen: you don’t want to have six tables in a tiny park for a thousand attendees, or book Yankee Stadium for 19 people and a dog • Keep the stream in mind when you compose your agenda. © 2012 Maverick Learning Designs
  • 34. Upstream, Downstream - Facilitation • Keep the stream in mind also as you facilitate your meetings. Be ready to intervene in the discussion with comments and questions like these: • John, we decided earlier on Yankee Stadium and are now deciding what equipment will be needed. Do you feel strongly that we should go back upstream and reconsider the choice of venue? • Susan, I like the idea of setting up a Frisbee golf course, but the question, “What equipment do we need?” is, I think, downstream from the question, “Where shall we have the picnic?” How would you feel about holding back for a bit on the golf question? © 2012 Maverick Learning Designs
  • 35. Pulling Rank/Polling the Group • When someone in your meeting feels strongly that an upstream decision should be reconsidered, you don’t necessarily need to go there immediately, or at all. Instead, consider pulling rank or polling the group. © 2012 Maverick Learning Designs
  • 36. Pulling Rank/Polling the Group • When someone in your meeting feels strongly that an upstream decision should be reconsidered, you don’t necessarily need to go there immediately, or at all. Instead, consider pulling rank or polling the group. • As the meeting owner, you have every right to say, “I hear you Stan, but our timetable is tight. I feel strongly that Yankee Stadium is a good choice and we need to continue to move forward through our other decisions. © 2012 Maverick Learning Designs
  • 37. Pulling Rank/Polling the Group • When someone in your meeting feels strongly that an upstream decision should be reconsidered, you don’t necessarily need to go there immediately, or at all. Instead, consider pulling rank or polling the group. • As the meeting owner, you have every right to say, “I hear you Stan, but our timetable is tight. I feel strongly that Yankee Stadium is a good choice and we need to continue to move forward through our other decisions. • Another option is to poll the group. Say something like, “Stan feels strongly that we should return to x. Would anyone like to add their support to Stan? Who feels we should continue to move downstream?” © 2012 Maverick Learning Designs
  • 38. New Questions • New questions will often be raised during discussion but you don’t necessarily have to admit them for discussion immediately. First, the group has—or you have—to make two decisions: • Should the matter be discussed at all? • When should the discussion be held relative to the other questions already in the stream? © 2012 Maverick Learning Designs
  • 39. New Questions • New questions will often be raised during discussion but you don’t necessarily have to admit them for discussion immediately. First, the group has—or you have—to make two decisions: • Should the matter be discussed at all? • When should the discussion be held relative to the other questions already in the stream? • If the answers to these questions aren’t immediately apparent to the group, ask the other members for their input before diving into an unplanned discussion. © 2012 Maverick Learning Designs
  • 40. Never Forget • If a new question is voiced but the group decides to address it downstream, be sure to write down the question and the name of the person who raised it. Be sure that it appears in a future agenda, or the member in question will be disappointed, or even resentful. © 2012 Maverick Learning Designs
  • 41. When the Going Gets Tough • You will sometimes need to intervene when the group seems blocked by an apparently insurmountable obstacle or when there are such strong differences of opinion that neither side seems ready to yield. © 2012 Maverick Learning Designs
  • 42. When the Going Gets Tough • You will sometimes need to intervene when the group seems blocked by an apparently insurmountable obstacle or when there are such strong differences of opinion that neither side seems ready to yield. • In these cases, consider pushing the matter to a back burner and attending instead to other questions on the agenda. If that’s not an option, make an executive decision to go one way or the other, but make an offer to meet offline with the contentious individuals and reconsider your decision if warranted. © 2012 Maverick Learning Designs
  • 43. Who, What, When • Most of the decisions you make together with your members create Action Items which together constitute your Action Plan. To be most useful, these items need to specify who, what and when. © 2012 Maverick Learning Designs
  • 44. Who, What, When • Most of the decisions you make together with your members create Action Items which together constitute your Action Plan. To be most useful, these items need to specify who, what and when. • Here are a couple of examples: • John (who) will locate a source for bocce balls and have costs for us (what) by the end of the week (when.) • Louise (who) will hire a polka band (what) by the 4th (when.) © 2012 Maverick Learning Designs
  • 45. Who, What, When • Most of the decisions you make together with your members create Action Items which together constitute your Action Plan. To be most useful, these items need to specify who, what and when. • Here are a couple of examples: • John (who) will locate a source for bocce balls and have costs for us (what) by the end of the week (when.) • Louise (who) will hire a polka band (what) by the 4th (when.) • Leaving who, what and when unspecified dramatically increases the likelihood of slippage. You’ll hear, “Oh, was I supposed to do that?” or “You needed that today?” © 2012 Maverick Learning Designs
  • 46. After the Meeting • As soon as possible after a meeting, distribute your updated Action Plan with a cover message that urges recipients to review their commitments carefully and let you know immediately if they are in any doubt that they’ll meet a deadline. © 2012 Maverick Learning Designs
  • 47. After the Meeting • As soon as possible after a meeting, distribute your updated Action Plan with a cover message that urges recipients to review their commitments carefully and let you know immediately if they are in any doubt that they’ll meet a deadline. • Don’t fail to use this opportunity to recognize members who have met prior commitments. © 2012 Maverick Learning Designs
  • 48. Between Meetings • If it will be a week or more until your next meeting, check- in a few days before the meeting with any individuals or sub-groups whose decisions must be made before the whole group convenes. © 2012 Maverick Learning Designs
  • 49. Between Meetings • If it will be a week or more until your next meeting, check- in a few days before the meeting with any individuals or sub-groups whose decisions must be made before the whole group convenes. • A nice way to do this is to say, “I know you’ll have the cost on the bocce balls for us Wednesday, Arturo, and I have that on the agenda. Are there any new questions that I should also include on the agenda?” © 2012 Maverick Learning Designs
  • 50. Between Meetings • If it will be a week or more until your next meeting, check- in a few days before the meeting with any individuals or sub-groups whose decisions must be made before the whole group convenes. • A nice way to do this is to say, “I know you’ll have the cost on the bocce balls for us Wednesday, Arturo, and I have that on the agenda. Are there any new questions that I should also include on the agenda?” • Be sure to have the agenda for an upcoming meetings in the hands of members at least 24 business hours in advance. © 2012 Maverick Learning Designs
  • 51. Seeking Feedback • Despite your good intentions, someone in your group may become frustrated with you over the way you handle a particular matter, or your performance overall. © 2012 Maverick Learning Designs
  • 52. Seeking Feedback • Despite your good intentions, someone in your group may become frustrated with you over the way you handle a particular matter, or your performance overall. • Unfortunately, people tend to nurse grievances privately. That means you have to be proactive in soliciting feedback between meetings. © 2012 Maverick Learning Designs
  • 53. Seeking Feedback • Despite your good intentions, someone in your group may become frustrated with you over the way you handle a particular matter, or your performance overall. • Unfortunately, people tend to nurse grievances privately. That means you have to be proactive in soliciting feedback between meetings. • Don’t think that saying, “Please let me know if you have any concerns,” will do the trick. Instead, call one or two members between meetings and ask these questions: • What could improve our meetings? • What can I, personally, do or stop doing that will help us be more effective as a group? © 2012 Maverick Learning Designs
  • 54. Preparing Participants • If you follow my suggestions, be sure and let your group members know what is expected of them, before they come together for your first meeting. © 2012 Maverick Learning Designs
  • 55. Preparing Participants • If you follow my suggestions, be sure and let your group members know what is expected of them, before they come together for your first meeting. • Concepts like “upstream/downstream” and “who, what and when” will be hard for some to fully understand at first, Doing what you can to prepare your group’s members to go with the flow will minimize the number of times they will feel that they’ve “done it the wrong way.” © 2012 Maverick Learning Designs
  • 56. Ground Rules • Something else to give your members before the first meeting is a list of proposed ground rules for discussions. These might include items such as… • No interruptions • Seek first to understand, then to be understood. • Cell phones off. • No side conversations © 2012 Maverick Learning Designs
  • 57. Emphasize Progress • Frequently remind members of a standing group how far they’ve come and how far they have yet to go. Be specific about the contributions members have made and why they’ve been important. • Don’t use precious meeting time for this sort of speech- making. Put it in writing—and copy everyone you can think of with a stake in the outcome. © 2012 Maverick Learning Designs
  • 58. And in Conclusion • You’ve learned here… • Why expressing agenda items as questions will bring greater focus to discussions. • Delegating some decisions to sub-groups will help minimize wasting the time of members in the larger group. • Why Action items must specify Who will act, What they will do and by When they will do it. • Why members of a group must be held accountable for meeting their commitments to other members. © 2012 Maverick Learning Designs
  • 59. Thanks! • Thanks for reading this little treatise. I’ve always liked visiting (your town) and spending a little time with you, (your name.) • If you’d like to provide feedback or tell a bit about your own experiences, I’d be delighted to hear from you. You can reach me through several channels: • dennisafahey@maverickld.com • Learningmaverick.com (WordPress) • @dennisafahey (Twitter) © 2012 Maverick Learning Designs