Meetings and Road Trips

Managing a meeting is like setting off on a long car trip with friends or family. You need to plan your route, pay attention to the rules of the road, consider what will keep your passengers engaged and occupied, and always remember you have to get back home at the end.

Just as adults and children consider car trips to be tolerable as the only way to get to certain places, so too do business people view meetings as necessary evils.

Here are three ways to make an enormous difference in your meetings.

1. KNOW WHERE YOU'RE GOING

Most of us wouldn't start a trip through unfamiliar territory without looking at a map beforehand so we don't get lost. Preparation may be just ten minutes, but a little preparation goes a long way toward making a meeting successful. You want your time to be productive and efficient. Whether your meeting is with a five-person project team, 100 worldwide sales people, or an online multi-location group, you need to consider a few key items ahead of time.

? What is your desired outcome? If the meeting were over, and you were delighted with it, what would you have as a result? Do you want consensus on a course of action or new ideas on a recurring problem? Do you simply want updates on what everyone is doing? Once you're clear on what you want, you can state a clear Meeting Objective and share it with everyone at the meeting.

? Decide on the type of meeting. Most meetings have four possible activities: sharing information, collecting information, problem solving, and decision making. Many meetings are a mixture of these. For every agenda item, think ahead of time about what you want as an outcome. That will help you, and everyone else, know when you're on-topic and when you're not.

2. HONOR THE RULES OF THE ROAD AND MANAGE YOUR PASSENGERS

When you're in a car on a trip, the easy ways to ruin the experience are to get stopped by the police when you disobey the rules of the road or to have the passengers fighting and complaining. The same is true of meetings. Let people know what the guidelines are. Do your best to keep the dialogue moving forward. Listen to all viewpoints, but don't let one view dominate the others. Manage the time and discussion so that speakers change and participants are engaged. If you're bored, so are others. If you're tired of a particular voice, you're not alone. Use the following guidelines to keep the meeting lively.

? Be an effective chairperson. Be even-handed. Make and maintain good personal connection with your group. If you want active participation, avoid evaluating what people say until it's time to make a decision. Keep the information and dialogue flowing. And when you get to a decision point, say so publicly. State the decision (whether it's consensus or a decision to get more info or a selected course of action), then go on to the next steps on that decision or to the next topic.

? Manage airtime. Manage the meeting like a good traffic cop ? give everyone his or her turn. Enforce brevity. If someone rambles on and on, paraphrase his or her point and then turn to someone else in the meeting. Draw out the quiet individuals.

? Handle conflict. The majority of conflict in meetings arises from misunderstanding between two or more people. Be sure each position is clearly articulated (without value judgments about opposing viewpoints) and understood.

3. END OF THE TRIP

There's something anti-climactic about getting home from a long car trip. The ride home seems endless when the anticipation is gone. This happens in meetings also. So end your meetings with a bang, not a whimper. Here's how:

? Finish on time. Honor the time commitment you made to participants. If you consistently end meetings later than promised, people will either make excuses not to attend your next one or find a reason to leave early.

? Identify next steps. A very frustrating aspect of meetings is the perception that nothing changes as a result of them. A way to ensure something indeed will happen is to identify and write down next steps ? the agreed-upon actions to be taken after the meeting. Include what has to be done, by whom, and when. Do this on a flipchart or in some other visible way. And make sure attendees get the notes of the meeting.

? Finally, follow up on the next steps after the meeting. Let people know it matters that they were in the meeting. Check in. See how it's going. Ask if additional resources are needed. If appropriate, see if a follow-up meeting makes sense as a way to chart progress. Keep people informed.

Again, a little planning goes a long way in making meetings productive and even enjoyable. You probably already spend a lot of time now, clarifying decisions after the meeting or even trying to remember what decisions were made! Consider the cost of meetings when everyone leaves and remembers the tangents and not what actions will be taken. In this case, the meeting itself was ineffective and no one's behavior or subsequent action was changed. That's wasted time ? a real dead end.

Peg Kelley, MBA, has been a professional meeting facilitator for 25 years & is co-author of the booklet "39 Secrets for Effective and Enjoyable Meetings" available for $6.00 at her Facilitation Plus website at www.meetingswithmuscle.com. She publishes a free e-newsletter on Meeting Management Tips. Send your email address to her at Kelley@facplus.com if you want to receive it.

---

Supplier Sees 53% Reduction in Out-of-Spec Orders Case Study

The goal of perfection is a challenge. It is often... Read More

Rethinking the CEO-Chairman Split

Traditionally, in American businesses, the same person occupies the role... Read More

Think Twice Before Selling ROI

When we're selling to business people, our value proposition has... Read More

Necessary Tasks You May Want to Delegate

As a business owner, time is of the essence. Running... Read More

Time Management Tips for Managers

Late last year I was presenting a workshop for the... Read More

Employee Orientation: Get New Hires Off To a Great Start

The good news is that a new hire orientation program... Read More

The Dark Side of Help Desk SLAs

You just signed a Help Desk Service Level Agreement (SLA)... Read More

The 5 Obsessions of a Passionate Employee

A recent report entitled "How Google Grows?and Grows?and Grows" stated... Read More

Are You Measuring Something Meaningful?

Avoiding inert measures that anaesthetise your performance management.INTRODUCTIONYou sit before... Read More

Why Your Business Needs an E-Mail Policy

Why is it imperative to have a company E-Mail Policy?... Read More

Project Managment: Land the Plane Stop Doing and Start Succeeding

We all spend time on planning vacations. If it's not... Read More

Lets Make Training More Interesting!

Many HR managers believe that by sending their workers to... Read More

Creating a Team Working Environment

TEAM DECISION MAKING: Managers who invite participation believe that people... Read More

What Consultants Want You to Know (But You Never Ask)

I've been both a CEO and a consultant, so I've... Read More

A Fast and Simple Way to Update Your Business

You open your computer, the flashing button says, "We have... Read More

Firing Someone Without Resentment

Firing, sacking, letting go or terminating people is unpleasant. There... Read More

Difficult Employees-Poor Performance - 10 Tips for Dealing with it in the Workplace

I personally struggle with the term 'managing people' - because... Read More

On The Job Training is Something You Canâ??t Afford to Skip

Trained employees are more productive employees; thereâ??s no doubt about... Read More

Learn About Commercial Collections Agencies Fees

As with any other service, there are good and bad... Read More

Hiring Productive Employees: A Checklist for Assessing Their Appeal

The characteristics of job applicants have a strong influence on... Read More

Status Quo Pep Talks That Can Threaten Your Leadership

Organizations live and die by results. Yet most organizations get... Read More

Best Practices Plan: Dissemination of a Great Idea

Good news spreads quickly News of the invention of the... Read More

Indecent Proposal in the Workplace ? An Overview of Workplace Harassment & Employer Liability

An allegation of harassment in the workplace is a growing... Read More

Creative People, Innovative People

The title implies that some people are and others not.This... Read More

Credibility - A Golden Key to Becoming More Influential

You have been named a new leader in your organization,... Read More

What We Have Here Is A Failure To Communicate

Today's successful organizations are the ones which carry on open... Read More

Innovation Management ? Time to Market or Time to Success?

Creativity can be defined as problem identification and idea generation... Read More

Human Resource Communication Pays Off

Human Resource Communications and Corporate Communications ? are they one... Read More

Saying One Thing, Doing Another...

This week I was asked to speak at an internal... Read More

Dont Take New Hires for Granted

Hiring good people is only half the battle. The other... Read More

Leaning Toward Change

Seduced by the publicity surrounding the impact of Lean on... Read More

How to Prepare for Your Companys Financial Future

Sooner or later, most business owners need to look for... Read More

Managing Change - Get it Right

In any event, getting the process right is a vital... Read More