eetings by Joel D. Levitt
Even when you reiterate expectations, there may still be people who don’t think they are the people who are sup- posed to be prepared. In a separate set- ting, the meeting leader or their man- ager needs to remind these individuals that meetings are places where people report on their work, share informa- tion, etc.When members fail to do what they promised, they are being dis- respectful of other people’s time (those who came to the meeting in order to participate and learn what progress had been made).Not only are they being rude to coworkers,but they also are creating actual economic waste of organizational resources.
4. There is no closure for decision-mak- ing. Decisions are discussed but not decided. There is no agreement to sup- port collective decisions once they are made and people continue to fight them, disavow them or bad-mouth them after- wards.
A good business process gets essential activities done with a minimum of waste.A good meeting process requires decisions or a decision that the topic be continued to the next meeting. Create the expectation that a decision will be made during the meeting and drive for consensus. If a decision still can’t be made, the decision may need to be kicked upstairs or assigned to a sub-group.
After everyone has had their say and decisions are made, the decision needs to be supported by the entire group, even if some disagree.Otherwise the
disagreements move underground and undermine the workings of
all.There is one special exception: if the decision is illegal, immoral or dangerous. In such cases,dissent may be healthier for the organization in the long run than cooperating in the short run with bad decisions.
5. Meetings are dominated by a few talkers (not necessarily the leader), or there are knowledgeable people who never volunteer to speak up.
Facilitation can improve both the process and the outcome of meetings. Having someone with training in meet- ing facilitation has the potential to improve most things. If that’s not an option,help the meeting leader devel- op some basic meeting facilitation skills that will help even out participa- tion.
6. Meetings start and end late. Some people come late or leave before the end.
Timeliness is a matter of integrity.Here we are using the word“integrity”in the sense of being unimpaired or sound. Consider the integrity of the steel beams in a building. If one or more were missing or askew,wouldn’t the building sag or fall down? Similarly, the integrity of your work group or team is undermined when key people are missing during updates or decision- making times; it doesn’t matter why or
how.They will inevitably miss impor- tant communications,updates, refram- ing of the issues under discussion,and
waste everyone else’s time when they have to be specially brought up-to- date.
Because they missed the original sequence of events, they may also leave the meeting with an erroneous impression of what was discussed or agreed
upon.Set the expectation for timeliness in advance and then start and end the meeting on time. If you respect peoples’ schedules, they will be more likely to respect the integrity of the meeting and its objectives.
7. People leave meetings feeling tired, frustrated, angry or depressed.
Your current meeting style might not be healthy for you. If your meetings include donuts,coffee, soft drinks and bagels, they may spike your blood sugar and then cause it to
crash.Are your meetings longer than necessary or are they run without breaks? Or per- haps you are holding the wrong type of meeting for the particular time of day.
Consider the logistics of the meeting to see if your meetings actually help or hinder the work of the organization.
Joel D.Levitt is a prolific author, speaker and leading trainer of manufacturing,operational and mainte- nance professionals,having trained more than 15,000 maintenance leaders from 3,000 organizations in 25
countries.Since 1980,he has been the president of Springfield Resources,a management consulting firm servicing clients of all sizes on a wide range of main- tenance issues,and currently serves as director of international projects for Life Cycle Engineering.
www.maintenancetraining.com /
www.meetingdefender.com
Mid-Atlantic EVENTS Magazine 77
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