Taking the Guesswork Out of Meetings

We all have to attend meetings. It’s a fact of life and an important source for conducting business. But sometimes attending a meeting that drones on and on or has seemingly no purpose is almost as bad as a sharp stick in the eye. It’s painful.

Informational, Problem Solving, Alignment, and Practice Processes

A meeting chair may request participants to provide input during one section of the meeting, and simply listen during another section.

A meeting might be a strictly informational exchange or focused on problem solving. Most meetings however ask participants to engage in both processes. The key is for the meeting chair and/or facilitator to clarify what is needed from the participants and when.

Alternatively, a meeting might be focused on building alignment among team members or between team members and the organization.

Or, even a more widening scope of a meeting... the purpose might be to coach, develop, or practice skills among team member.

Why Meetings Succeed

There is no guarantee that a meeting will succeed. Through planning and implementation, all a meeting facilitator can hope to do is maximize the meeting’s outcome. Two primary factors determine the success of any problem-solving meeting:

Meeting content is the “what” of the meeting. Meeting content includes the objectives set, the quality of ideas each participant brings to the meeting, and the quality of information to be presented.
Meeting process is the “how” of the meeting. Meeting process is how the meeting is run. Meeting process shows up in how we treat each other in the meeting. Do we feel rewarded for taking a risk, or do we feel shot down? Do we feel questions are used to clarify, criticize, or show how smart we are? Do we feel listened to or ignored by meeting leaders and participants? Do we experience conflict or collaboration? Do we feel honored and valued, or do we feel judged and demeaned.

Most meetings do not fail because of lack of quality content. Most meetings fail due to poor meeting process.

In this course we will focus on how to maximize a meeting’s success by improving the meeting process.

Successful meeting happens in three separate, but equally important, phases: