LEADING EFFECTIVE MEETINGS

Katie Fearer, Alaska State Library, kathleen.fearer@alaska.govFebruary 28, 2015

Introductions

“introductions” by Porsche Brosseau, available from Flickr, licensed under CC BY 2.0

SourcesArticles

Douglas, Kimberly. "Ten Pitfalls of Pitiful Meetings." Payroll Manager's Report 10, no. 1 (January 2010): 1-11. Business Source Premier, EBSCOhost (accessed February 16, 2015).

Gerschel, Antoine, and Lawrence Polsky. "Meeting With a Mission." PM Network 29, no. 1 (January 2015): 70. Business Source Premier, EBSCOhost (accessed February 16, 2015).

Pickett, Ronald B. "Effective Management Is Key to Successful Meetings." Physician Executive 40, no. 3 (May 2014): 44-49. Business Source Premier, EBSCOhost (accessed February 16, 2015).

"Spotlight on breaking bad news." Personnel Today (March 14, 2006): 36. Business Source Premier, EBSCOhost (accessed February 13, 2015).

"Taking the bias out of meetings." Mckinsey Quarterly no. 2 (June 2010): 68-69. Business Source Premier, EBSCOhost (accessed February 13, 2015).

More SourcesBooks

Manage Meetings Positively How to Take Charge and Come Up with Results. London: A. & C. Black, 2006.

Moore, Mary Y. The Successful Library Trustee Handbook. Chicago: American Library Association, 2010

Pearl, David. Will There Be Donuts? London: HarperCollins, 2012.

Ressler, Cali, and Jody Thompson. Why Managing Sucks and How to Fix It: A Results-Only Guide to Taking Control of Work, Not People. Hoboken: Wiley, 2013.

Weisbord, Marvin Ross, and Sandra Janoff. Don't Just Do Something, Stand There! Ten Principles for Leading Meetings That Matter. San Francisco: Berrett-Koehler Publishers, 2007.

Other sources

Kanter, Beth and Andrea Kihlstedt. Creating Healthy and Productive Meetings, a GuideStar Webinar delivered on February 12, 2015.

SAMSHA. American Indian and Alaska Native Culture Card: a Guide to Build Cultural Awareness, available at http://store.samhsa.gov/shin/content/SMA08-4354/SMA08-4354.pd, (accessed on February 19, 2015).

Where we’re going

◦Visualize a good meeting

◦Tips and techniques

◦Common challenges

◦Practice through group work

Visualize a good meeting

“Carter, Sadat, and Begin, September 7, 1978” by The Central Intelligence Agency, a U.S. Government Work available from Flickr courtesy of the Jimmy Carter Library

How do we make meetings good?

“P9180029e…World Sheepdog Trials” by simonsImages available from Flickr, licensed under CC BY 2.0

Lay the groundwork

“The anti-gadget” by txkimmers, available from Flickr, licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

Plan your meeting

◦Purpose and outcome◦People and roles◦Time, location, room preparation◦What people need to read, do, bring, think about◦Agenda +

Create opportunities to think

“The Ideas are Turned to Each Other like Electric Sparks” by Mauricio Ulloa, available from Flickr, licensed under CC BY-NC 2.0

Spark the creative mind◦Space

◦Open-ended questions

◦Movement

◦Photos & film clips

◦Whiteboard or flip chart

◦No judgment

Examine all angles◦De Bono’s 6 thinking hats

◦Balance sheet

◦SWOT analysis

◦Flow chart

◦Decision tree

Create opportunities to talk

“A heated discussion” by Kathleen Tyler Conklin, available from Flickr licensed under CC BY 2.0

Structure for the conversation◦Ground rules

◦Open discussion

◦The “go around”

◦Subgroups

◦Devil’s advocate

Write it down

“Glyphs” by David Lanham, available from Flickr, licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.O

Document the results

◦Decisions◦Action items◦Who’s responsible and when is it due◦What didn’t get done◦Assessment◦Follow-up

Consider your own role

“NICO looks at himself” by Georgia Pinaud, available from Wikimedia Commons, Public Domain

Lead & get out of the way◦Active listening

◦Observations, questions

◦Periodic check-in to summarize, reiterate meeting purpose, check for consensus

◦Your projections

◦Body language & eye contact

Someone is off on a tangent

“ ここはどこ?” by

Anna Ayvazyan, available from Flickr, licensed under CC BY-ND 2.0

Someone is dominating discussion

“Fighting Wolves” by Tabako The Jaguar, available from Flickr, licensed under CC BY-ND 2.0

Disagree-ment persists or is heated

“Riot Control Training” by The National Guard, available from Flickr, licensed under CC BY 2.0

You need to deliver bad news

“USS Arizona, at height of fire, following Japanese aerial attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii,” by U.S. Navy, Library of Congress, LC-USZ62-104778

It’s a virtual meeting

“Teleconference” by Chris Chabot, available from Flickr, licensed under CC BY-NC 2.0

Cultural differences

“Flags” by Borkur Sigurbjornsson, available from Flickr, licensed under CC BY 2.0

Practice in groupsConsider any of these outcomes

◦Reduce expenditures on the resources you license or buy

◦New policy regarding beverages in the library

◦Procedures for lending the library’s new ipads to patrons

◦Staff learns/accepts that several open positions will not be filled due to budget cuts

◦Ditch the four hypothetical meetings above & come up with your own

Take 15 minutes to begin planning your meeting. You don’t need to figure out every aspect, but try to consider at least some of the factors on your handout.

Present your plans to the group at large.

Three things to put into practice

Image available from Pixabay through Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication, CC0 1.0

o Get out of the way

o Whiteboard, flip chart

o Your turn