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- 10 September 2023 at 1:51 pm #4849Ron EagleParticipant
I agree – a 30 point agenda is not a recipe for an effective meeting. Meetings tend to fall into 2 broad categories: update advice with consequent negotiations/ actions set or developmental where one or more concepts of situations are posed and creative discussions happen with actions agreed to progress those outcomes. In either case, unless you wish for dilution of interest and effectiveness after a time, the number of agenda points should ideally remain in single figures. There is a possible exception where a meeting is intended merely for updates with no requirement for further discussion/working of agenda points – or very little maybe beyond a select number of questions. This could be for example a formal progress briefing, official statement etc.,
6 September 2023 at 11:07 pm #7155Ron EagleParticipantAlso, be careful of ‘forced’ ice breaking. For example where the group leader points to someone and makes them stand up and talk about something or themselves etc. This could be embarrassing and unless it is an addiction group ‘sharing session’ may be inappropriate.
6 September 2023 at 4:54 pm #780Ron EagleParticipantI agree with most of your points except the one about having a new ’round robin’ on the expected outcomes. Outcomes for the session should have nee explicit beforehand and set for a specific purpose. Attendees should be aware of this beforehand too. Asking for ratification at the meeting of its purpose is a recipe for anarchy , time wasting and failed outcomes. ( – example: Field Marshall Montgomery: “gentlemen we are here, as per your summonses, to plan the invasion of Normandy”….General Bat-Hat: ” Er no I think we should discuss The refurbishment of the Officers’ mess”….General Whatnot,”No I’d like to discuss the Norway campaign”…etc….. So no I think NOT a good idea to review the meetings objectives during the meeting…that should have happened well before now and NOT agian here.
5 September 2023 at 12:14 am #759Ron EagleParticipantIf you are leading a business meeting, you are responsible for managing a large number of people and actions and outputs. An effective meeting agenda will make sure you discuss all the necessary information, keep the meeting on topic and ensure time efficiency. The key essentials to creating then MANAGING a good agenda are:
- Identify the meeting’s goals i.e. outputs (some action or event that changes the nature of a situation, person or item …. or its not an output) clearly and concisely.
- Ask ALL participants for input …draw them out…don’t let one view dominate.
- List clearly the questions you want to address and what OUTPUTs you expect.
- Identify the specific purpose (it should produce or assist the production of an output) of each task.
- Estimate the amount of time to spend on each topic and manage that during the meeting…if something seems important enough agree separate session to expand on it later.
- Identify who leads on each topic.
- End each meeting with a review of actions agreed. names against those and dates to be completed and issue those action minutes to all..
3 September 2023 at 11:32 pm #750Ron EagleParticipantEnsure you have a venue that si exclusively booked out and no interruptions form non attendees will happen.
Ensure you are only using secure networks during the session.
Ask for smartphones to be turned off.
(unless agreed in advance) Leave all papers behind, Meeting facilitator collect them to make sure and take all out of the room when leaving.
2 September 2023 at 11:43 pm #751Ron EagleParticipantGauge how much ice needs breaking first before enacting a strategy:
- Very stuffy staid serious ethos and attendees will probably be best thawed by traditional round robin of introductions around the table (not just names and titles…ask each to give a few minutes explaining what they do what their thought contribution is on the project and maybe some small personal details to humanise them) BTW this isn’t a bad approach to any meeting.
- At the other end of the spectrum in a very whacky creative style organisation then even arriving in a pantomime horse outfit probably wont be too startling so think of a totally non sequitur approach e.g. once all are seated, ask everyone to change seat positions then ask them each to write down briefly why they chose the seat they sat at after moving…and ask them to let the person next to them to read it (only ask this AFTER they have all written) …that always gets brain cells buzzing and complacency comfort nudged….then go to 1 above.
2 September 2023 at 9:02 am #758Ron EagleParticipantTry to have something welcoming at arrival: if a morning offer hot drinks and maybe bacon rolls (include vegan too ); if lunch then offer maybe a buffet. This not only attracts attendees but allows some for some pre meeting mingling, ice breaking etc. Regardless have at least one person responsible for welcoming the people arriving
30 August 2023 at 11:50 pm #754Ron EagleParticipantMake it clear and concise at the commencement of the session what you want the outcome to be and say that this will be reviewed and tested at the end. For example…don’t say ‘this meeting is to discuss the situation with delays in the finance project’ or you will get hours of just that: discussion and be no further forward. In stead say, ‘the purpose of this meeting is to establish specific actions we can take to resolve the finance project delays’ and having said that, manage all debated and options towards those OUTCOMES not output i.e chattering.
27 July 2023 at 11:25 am #1078Ron EagleParticipantOnce was in an arranged training session for senior UK Government Department managers: a very conservative group of individuals (I was attending as an interim director) where the HR department had arranged a session with a very wacky creative style set of management development consultants (no names to protect the ‘innocent’ …and us!! ha ha). The managers did not really want to be there or see the need for more ‘creativity’ so were already not in the most receptive mood. However, when the two consultants entered the room it was as if we’d fallen down the rabbit hole with Alice. One of them was very short with a really bright yellow plaid pattern 3 piece tweed suit and shoulder length hair and the other was around six feet six, extremely gaunt with a bald head and bizarre white framed spectacles with one oval lens horizontal and the other oval lens vertical, draped from ankles to chin in a black close fitting black, silver buckled coat. All I could think of at the time was Judge Doom and Eddie Valiant from ‘Who framed Roger Rabbit’!! So many mouths were wide open from the managers that it looked like a voiceless choir. From that point on it was impossible for the two consultants to get any credibility no matter how they tried the room just either stayed aghast or heckling so it petered out after a half hour and HR I’m sure had an ‘interesting’ conversation later that day with the senior managers about the cost of sic an inappropriate choice. Very amusing though for me.
25 July 2023 at 2:14 pm #4851Ron EagleParticipantCriteria:
did you call it but wont be attending i.e. you’ve asked others to hold it? – why are you not attending? is is a low importance session you can delegate with confidence and whose impact will be small even if it goes wrong? If you cant answer yes then you should attend.
did you call it and you will be attending? – as above
did someone else call it but asked you to arrange it? – make sure you get very clear advice from the requester on the expected outcomes; so you can devise an appropriate agenda; reasons for attendees so you can explain to them if need be and not just sound like a lackey.
did someone else ask you to arrange it and attend – as above but Make sure you know your role once in the session if not chairing.
7 July 2023 at 11:24 pm #7157Ron EagleParticipantThe context of the meeting and make up of the attendees will mak all the difference. An open invitation gathering of people with divergent motivations will be far more challenging to facilitate cogent interactive discussions in a large open space than in a meeting with largely homologous minded attendees. In greatest contrast, imagine the difference between a very animated set of exchanges at a large Hyde Park Corner gathering of temporarily captured passers by around an emotive speaker compared to the unified hum of devotees at a political party rally or evangelistic religious gathering. So the level of commonality in motivation for attendance will affect the level of difficulty in managing the communication in large spaces.
1 July 2023 at 11:28 pm #749Ron EagleParticipantPublic spaces are not usually ideal for professional meetings as there are issues of logistics ( do you have guaranteed space, seating, accessibility etc) , interruptions ( if its public you cant control who comes and goes around/into your meeting space) and of course security ( eavesdropping, public Wi-Fi networks etc.)
Unless its a social event then public spaces (inside or outside) would not be recommended. However if it is unavoidable then bear in mind the above caveats and take whatever measures you can to at least ameliorate them.
31 May 2022 at 5:04 pm #9424Ron EagleParticipantOne subtle point is to be aware of is that YOUR idea of what constitutes obvious courtesy and respect may NOT be as clear and obvious to your attendee(s). These values are as fluid and contextual and culturally flexible as any other value. So do more research from the other person(s) viewpoint in advance so that ‘obvious’ is not taken as a given.
31 May 2022 at 4:57 pm #9422Ron EagleParticipantOne common theme to almost all meetings is the necessity to take some form of recording of the session and of any outcomes.
In some cases this may need to be a laborious and extremely accurate and comprehensive style of recording of every utterance and action during the meeting. This is most common in highly political discussions or those in the public interest. These require high precision and totality of content that may be required for later evidence or interrogations. Parliamentary dealings are a typical example i.e. the Hansard recordings.
In other cases it may only need a record of actions agreed and their owners and timeline allocations. These would be most usual business type meetings requirements.
Yet another possibility is meetings where no recordings are made at all formally. Military, security or commercially secret sessions would most likely not want formal recordings taken and documented for obvious reasons.
There is, however, another style of meeting and recording where recordings are neither comprehensive nor totally secret. These are where they are held under the ‘Chatham House rule’. The Rule reads as:
“When a meeting, or part thereof, is held under the Chatham House Rule, participants are free to use the information received, but neither the identity nor the affiliation of the speaker(s), nor that of any other participant, may be revealed.”
The rule is a system for holding debates and discussion panels on controversial topics, named after the headquarters of the UK Royal Institute of International Affairs. This is an independent policy institute and a trusted forum for debate and dialogue based in Chatham House, London, where the rule originated in June 1927.
The Chatham House Rule Is normally used on ‘brainstorming’ or similar open voiced creative sessions where contributions may be very sensitive, socially or legally questionable or downright apparently impractical. This rule would be a pre-agreed guide for running an event, particularly when issues of a sensitive nature are to be discussed.
In a polarised world, used effectively, the Chatham House Rule helps to bring people together, break down barriers, generate ideas and agree solutions.
The idea being that it helps create a trusted environment to understand and resolve complex problems with no holds barred on potential inputs until workable ideas or outcomes can be assessed. Its guiding spirit is to allow the sharing of the information created, but without revealing the identity of (and thereby possibly embarrassment or detriment) those who said it. Political legislative creation debates pre green paper creation or scientific or commercial new development creative sessions would be examples of where such a rule may be enacted.
The advantage of such a session is that it allows for all unpalatable or incredible views to be explored as well as the obvious and a true lateral thinking environment to flourish.
Disadvantages can be:
(1) although in spirit no record is kept of any of the more outlandish inputs, this does not mean that those present may remember them afterwards and maintain a judgement on you in ‘private’.
(2) If really inventive and/or laudable outcomes are produced and published those will be attributed either to a (possibly anonymously attended) group or maybe to the named chair. This means that any ‘brilliant’ contribution by individuals will not be acknowledged….a consideration for those eager for recognition perhaps.
(3) Since no one is named as contributing then in converse, they cannot plead innocence to any controversial outcomes that later emerge (or are leaked dishonourably).
So if invited to such sessions be clear on the pros and cons when defining your participation.
31 May 2022 at 4:55 pm #9419Ron EagleParticipantNeed to distinguish between constructive disagreements that can eventually foster innovative solutions if managed creatively and destructive disagreements where no eventual convergence seems likely. The former may sometimes be encouraged in brainstorming but the latter should be assertively halted as early as possible.
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