It seems that meetings tend to go awry when the participants get off task and start to talk about other topics. It is important as the facilitator to keep the participants on track and discuss the meeting aggenda. It is easy to get involved in alternative discussions and sometime great ideas can be brought to the table. Scheduling ample time for these discussions is important but try to stick with the aggenda.
Heidi,
It is important that every meeting has an agenda with goals of completion. A good facilitator will keep the meeting expectations on track.
Dr. Gary Carlson
When someone goes off on a tangent and the facilitator allows it to continue, the meeting can get very far off-track.
I agree that 18 seems like a high number for a brainstorming session. It sounds like a recipe for chaos.
Linda,
All partipation need to know the expectations of the meeting. With this on the table it should be easier to pull them back into the goal of the meeting.
Dr. Gary Carlson
Linda,
If any comment is similar to another they should be combined together.
Dr. Gary Carlson
Linda,
If any comment is similar to another they should be combined together.
Dr. Gary Carlson
My biggest challenge with my staff meetings are:
1) to make the meetings interesting while still conveying the necessary information. I try to have different people speak so it is not just me giving directions. We are a new program and there are many details which need to be disseminated.
2) I have one person who dominates the meetings - I have spoke with her previously and will have to just interuppt her when she talks too much - my other employees are beginning to call the staff meetings "the Susie show".
eileen,
It is very important to explain the outcomes expected from the meeting prior to the meeting. You need to hold to these expectations by putting high priority items first on the agenda. Communication needs to be directly related to the agenda item and make sure their is redundancy with discussion. If an individual is off track they need to know there input does not relate to the subject at hand.
Dr. Gary Carlson
Many times are Ed Managers are very good at trying to keep meetings short and productive. They use an agenda and try to stick to it. When no other departments heads are involved they are very succesful. When something goes wrong and time runs out it is usually because a leader or spokeperson from another department joins or has been asked to join our meetings and that person does not fully understand or appreciate how critical time management is to the instructors in the audience. When a meeting runs over for an instructor its not just a loss of time it also means not being available to students before class, not getting classroom fully prepared and sometimes even being late to class. All of which are unaccpetable outcomes.
David,
Good meetings just don't happen when you meet. A meeting needs preparation and communication with the participants prior to the meeting. Expectation for the meeting needs to be communicated and all time constraints. When someone falls of the agenda guidelines they need to brought back to the meeting expectations.
Dr. Gary Carlson
I agree. The company I work for has meetings on a regular basis ( 2 every 3 weeks )
We have about 50 Instructors and it seems with that many participants there are way too many opinions and less ideas.
Donald,
It always important to be sure to have interactivity with your meetings. Some times the meeting attendance may be to large to produce constructive input. There are many ways to adjust this by holding meetings with smaller groups which the agenda relates specifically to them. Then have an information meeting only with everyone once a month and make sure it is a meeting where the participants are in the need to know category.
Dr. Gary Carlson
Meetings at my work are on a very tight time constraint so information has to be concise and to the point without adding unneeded formalities. When this happens the meetings are very productive and deemed useful. When too much time is wasted it affects the outcome of the whole meeting, not just the drawn out areas.
Mark,
Having well planned meetings save time.
Dr. Gary Carlson
Meetings I have attending which have went awry were caused by the following:
• Individuals playing on his/her cell phone or IPads.
• Side conversations.
• Individuals getting off track.
• Individuals with his/her own agendas
• Interrupting other team members.
• Arriving late/leaving early.
• Cakes, desserts, overall party atmosphere.
These problems could be resolved by:
• Establishing clearly defined ground rules, as an example no cell phones or IPad usage
• Elimination of side conversations.
• The meeting leader show maintain control, not let the members do his/her thing
• The meeting leader should take this course.
Meetings which the above is allowed leads to:
• Misinformation
• Lack of team unity
• Confusion
• The team members feel as though they are wasting his/her time
When it comes to brainstorming, having 18 people or more can be very productive. The meeting results to more ideas and a variety of concepts. It becomes a wide range of possiblities and alternatives where members can choose from.
Hermie,
There are many forms of brainstorming methods. One is to go around the room and have each person make a comment or suggestion regarding a topic. No one responds but the suggestion is posted. After the suggestions are exhausted you will go over each one with comments. Some can be combined but this gets the team participating in the solution at hand.
Dr. Gary Carlson
I concurr. I have seen this more often then I would like. The reasons are many from unfocused individuals to too much info at one time. Large groups of 18 for instance work better when they are broken down into smaller ones to brainstorm. When department heads are text messaging, what message do this give about the importance of the gathering and what kind of example does this set?
Warren,
Small groups are always good for the ownership in the task at hand. When you can get the peer relationships going in the smaller settings there will be more contributions from each individual. Lack of interest is not as prevalent.
Dr. Gary Carlson
