People are the greatest resource of an organization.
To unlock their potential and help them achieve success. Meetings and training are two of the best and easiest methods of assisting them to unlock that potential.
Unfortunately, it seems few small and medium-sized organizations are able to put into place an underlying structure to make their meetings and training as effective as possible. I believe meetings and training should provide value every time for those participating, they should be interactive, innovative, useful, and interesting. I think most managers, owners, and leaders agree; however, they lack to tools to close the gap between what is desired and what transpires.
In an effort to find some of the missing pieces, consider your meetings and see if any of the following are missing.
Begin by asking your people if your meetings are effective, be sure to ask anonymously. Encourage your people to speak their minds without fear of retaliation and don’t be defensive if their answers are not positive. Take advantage of negative responses to make positive changes and move forward. Even for organizations that conduct “good” meetings, everyone can always get better.
Construct an underlying structure to make your meetings successful and effective. An underlying structure does not imply that your meetings have to be rigid, in fact, your meeting structure should be mostly invisible to the participants allowing your meetings to range from free flowing to rigid as you choose.
Your framework should incorporate:
- What is your organization’s vision?
- Why are you having meetings?
- A team charter with ground rules for engagement.
- An appreciation that great meetings require planning, preparation, execution, and follow-up. It is the “HOW” of meetings that is often the most important component.
- Meetings are not stand-alone events and all topics build upon each other in your organization.
- An agenda designed to introduce, solicit input, and accomplish the next steps in achieving your vision.
- A clear and concise picture of “what success will look like for this meeting that is consistent with the organizational vision.”
A team charter is a set of rules and norms established by the participants to govern the meeting dynamics and/or ground rules including who participates and how; the length of the meetings; how disputes are resolved; the ramifications for agreeing to do work and not completing it; and anything else the group feels is important. Everyone signs off on the charter and it is re-examined whenever a new person joins the team.
All training and meetings must have a purpose. To be effective, meetings and training must engage your people and give them the skills, information, and experiences they need to succeed. Have trusted people monitor the scope of each meeting to ensure connectivity and collaboration. If a meeting is not necessary for any given period, cancel it, never have a meeting just because you always have a meeting on that day.
Be selective, choose topics relevant to your audience. Inclusiveness and awareness are predicated on asking and knowing what is important to participants. Effective leaders anticipate, solicit, and respond to what their people and their organization needs by selecting timely and appropriate topics for their meetings.
Individual meetings can be “interactive” or “unidirectional.” Meeting facilitators should communicate the style of their meeting prior to the event along with an agenda and any required materials to be preread a minimum of 24 hours before the meeting.
Provide value in every meeting. Regardless of the length and type of meeting, each participant should “take away” a skill, some knowledge, or an experience that is useful and informative from each meeting. If asked “So what?” at the end of any meeting, each participant should be able to provide an answer showing how they are better off as a result of the meeting.
Be organized and prepared or postpone your meeting. Every meeting is a test of your abilities and leadership. If you are not ready it is better to reschedule a meeting than to waste their time with an ineffective one.
Have the right people in attendance. Your people are or should be busy, so ensure your meeting list is chosen to maximize the return on their participation. Too often superfluous attendees at a meeting distract necessary participants from their purpose by appearing to be disengaged, bored, or doing other work.
Your meetings should be interesting, and if possible fun. One of the best ways to engage people is to present meetings interestingly; be animated, show passion and excitement in your expressions and voice, use tools like PowerPoint (although never just read from them), use personal stories, and get everyone involved by asking random questions. If your people are bored, whatever value you are trying to impart is blunted. Don’t waste your people’s time and your time with boring and forgettable meetings.
Be unorthodox. When doing meetings, move around, and ask everyone in attendance at least one question to get their insights and thoughts. Consider “pre-asking” different participants to present topics to help develop their skills and leadership. Never be limited by only using the ways you have always done things in the past.
Listen and be responsive. It is impossible to understate the importance of talking and listening to your people every day. Learn to about your people; implement their ideas when possible; seek their counsel; know their hardships and defeats; and celebrate their victories when they occur.
Encourage completion of assigned tasks. Often in meetings, working groups or individuals are assigned or volunteer to assume responsibility for work tasks. Encourage participation, provide working time, and hold people accountable to deliver on time and within budget.
Connect your meetings. Begin every meeting with a concise recap of the previous meeting’s key ideas. Emphasize positive accomplishments by the team or individuals as part of the recap. As part of the agenda, review assigned work interactively. Near the end of the meeting, ask for a summary of the key points of the current meeting along with sharing an upbeat message to finish the meeting. You want your people to leave the meeting focused on what success looks like and how to achieve it.
Start and finish on time. Respect your people, their responsibilities, and the limitations on their time. Starting and finishing on time sets a professional and respectful tone for your people and your organization.
Manage Tangents. As a facilitator of your meetings, you or someone you designate has a responsibility to keep the meeting on “topic” or within the parameters determined prior to the meeting. By accident or sometimes on purpose, a meeting can be “hijacked” and/or disappear into random “rabbit holes” and unless controlled the meeting can lose focus and some or all of its effectiveness.
Ask for feedback on an ongoing basis. Earn the trust and respect of your people by building a culture of trust and willingness to hear and share contrary opinions in a constructive environment.
Provide summary notes. A common failing of many organizations is that great ideas and solutions are presented but soon forgotten in the daily rush of our working lives. Creating a meeting summary and sharing those notes within 24-48 hours of each meeting helps to build connection and connectivity among meetings and your people.
Develop “Willing Cooperation.” Use these techniques as a starting point and add more; before long, your people will look forward to your meetings, participate more, and contribute better and stronger ideas and thoughts.
Continuous improvement is your goal. Whether in short 10–15-minute small daily huddles or weekly hour-long sessions; every meeting and every type of meeting needs to be a deliberate step in finding new solutions, applying lessons learned, and helping to grow your organization.
Your people are your greatest resource.
Encourage them, teach them, provide them with opportunities, listen to them, inspire them, and train them. Your meetings are an important vehicle to accomplish all of these goals and more. Done well, your meetings will create the conditions for growth and efficiencies, regardless of the type of organization you are part of.
This is just the start, but all great things start somewhere.
Good luck,
Paul