Joseph,
Running a good meeting is a real art. The ground rules must be set before a meeting ever begins and people need to know that when they get outside the rules they will be so notified. Chaired many meetings in my lifetime and have observed some of the best. Every meeting needs to have the purpose well spelled out with the rules of communication explained. Depending on how formal the meeting is requres differenct setting rules. But without a doubt all meetings need to have guidelines for the participants.
Joseph,
Understanding the time limits of each meeting and the goal of the meeting requires the agenda to assist you in completing the goal. Purpose and outline of the plan to get it done in the meeting is something that needs to be done before hand.
I agree one of the hardest thing is to stay on task. It is ussually the same people who take the meeting in another direction. The best thing to do is to talk to those people after the meeting.
My experience has been the effort in organizing the meeting to involve everyone, so all staff feels they are contributing to the meeting. I often must directly ask for opinions/suggestions from quiet employees to have them become more involved. I find at the next meeting they are more apt to contribute once the stage has been set that it is an open forum meeting with suggestions appreciated by all members present.
Issy,
The more ownership you can get by your people in a meeting the better off you are. Participation is the way people feel of value. The goal is to leave as a team together.
I also find Time management to be the biggest challenge.
Daniel,
Interrmittent interruptions do take there toll on time management. Priorizing is important and focus helps with the ability to follow your time management.
just like the other participants, I find that fitting everything into the allotted time can be challenging. However, my bigger challenge is making the meeting meaningful and productive for all participants. My directors are very busy and so I structure meetings in a way that covers items that are pertinent to everyone first and then meet with smaller groups for issues that do not pertain to the whole team. In doing so, I keep their interest and participation in the topics but it is still a challenge as I know not all agenda items are exciting and inviting participation while limiting tangents with 10 people can be difficult.
Chrissy,
Objectives of meetings should be clear. Participants should be those people who need to know. Closure is dependent on your objectives being met.
Dr. Gary Carlson
What do you think is the hardest task in preparing for a meeting with your staff or colleagues? How do you accomplish this task?
One of the most difficult things encountered in preparing for a meeting is finding the time to proper prepare. Normally, location and environment are not an issue.
I will attempt to avoid scheduling meetings on Monday since I can’t always be sure I will have time to prepare an agenda/topics to discuss.
Best case scenario is I will have a meeting on Tuesday or Wednesday, which allows me the time need early in the week to prepare for the topics. It never fails that
even as late as Monday or early Tuesday some comes up that needs to be on the agenda.
Troy,
When planning a meeting there are some basic considerations. One is to establish the goals of the meeting next prioritize the goals, two is to determine who needs to know and third keep to the agenda. People will appreciate your ability to run a meeting.
Dr. Gary Carlson
I have had an instance where I didn't anticipate the level of interest and contribution with a specific topic. The discussion was so good and I was getting so much great information, I decided to end the discussion by setting up another meeting at a different date that would concentrate only on that topic. I praised everyone who contributed, recorded all of the great ideas, gave everyone an assignment to gather more ideas for when we would met again.
It never fails that one person will seem to be bent on being negative. I have two people who seem to almost take turns being negative. I try to curb this by setting up ground rules in advance. I also listen to what they have to say, play devil's advocate and ask the people who tend to be positive to engage the negative person and expand on what they are trying to say. Sometimes, we can turn it around.
Holly,
When a topic has great interest it may give way to establishing an adhoc committee that will report back again at a later time with specific insights to the topic. Appoint a chair and members to come back to the group at a certain time to give their findings.
Dr. Gary Carlson
Holly,
No negative thought are allowed. I have had each person put a rubber band on their wrist and when someone gave negative remark the group could ask them to snap themselves. If it is perceived as a negative remark they need to snap their wrist. This gives the negative people a chance to see how negative they may be. It is an awaknening for many people because they don't think they are negative. This will keep others on a positive track.
Dr. Gary Carlson
Holly,
Good,for you! We should always encourage and motivate with our support. I often take the interest and form an Ad Hoc committee.
The hardest task in preparing for a meeting with staff and colleagues is to think ahead to unexpected issues that may arise in the meeting itself and to have the forethought on how to handle those issues.
I find that the best way to prepare for the meeting is to always have an agenda and talking points on each item. This forces me to think through more deeply about what I am trying to accomplish in the meeting and possible solutions in advance.
Lawrence,
When your participants have an idea of the expectations for the meeting the easier it is to get the work done. Having an agenda is important and following the rationale for the agenda item is important.
Dr. Gary Carlson
The hardest part for me is trying not to include to many things at once into one meeting. I look at all the items I want to cover and put similar topics together and move items that may take awhile to cover to another day. This helps me to organize the meetings better.
Mellisa
Mellisa,
Meetings are governed by your ability to stay on task, be clear about the objective of the meeting and priorities need to be clear for all concerned.
Dr. Gary Carlsont
