CONDUCTING AN EFFECTIVE MEETING

By Godfery Kissey Jabatan Perikanan Sabah

Presented At The Lecture Series I - A Learning Organisation Sabah Trade Centre, Kota Kinabalu 23 June 2001

Encountered Any Of The Following ? :

A. When called for a meeting :

Delegate it. Feel its a waste of time. Feel skeptical about it. Regard it as necessary evils to get work done. Sit near the door to exit. Felt totally frustrated. Dont accomplish much. Sit at back to do something else or sleep.

B. During meeting :

Presentations Outline
Overview

and introduction. Importance of an effective meeting. Planning a meeting. Conducting a meeting. Participating a meeting. Follow up work.

Overview and Introduction

Meeting process has impact on outcome. Managing meeting is a set of skill. Therere many types of meeting. An expensive activity. Tend to be often overlooked. All meeting basic are the same.

Importance Of An Effective Meeting

To accomplish objective/s. To exchange & convey information. To organise & coordinate work. To solve problem. To make decision/s To brainstorm & get new idea/s. To collaborate interagency work.

NO TEAM WORK

Planning A Meeting
I.
II. III. IV.

Primary decision. Who does what?

The agenda. Pre-meeting preparation.

Primary decision
Content vs Process
A. The Content

1. Is there a need for a meeting? 2. Determine what needs to be covered? 3. If theres nothing to make decisions, etc, then theres no need for a meeting.

Primary decision
B. The Process

1. Figure out how best to cover those items? 2. Do we need/want to : - convey information? - have an open discussion? - make decisions? - brainstorm new ideas? - or have a combination of any the above?

Who does what ?

The Complete Organiser
1. Advisor 2. Chairperson 3. Neutral facilitator 4. Facilitative leader 5. Secretariat 6. Presenter 7. Participant 8. Time keeper 9. Recorder 10. Note taker 11. Observers 12. Technicians 13. Cleaner 14. Server

Who does what ?

The Guide
Possible to play more than 2 roles. Choose correct person playing 2nd role. No more than 3 roles. Almost everyone is a participant. Never, never, neverhave the chairperson take on a 3rd role.

The Agenda
A. Purpose of an agenda
1. A roadmap leading to destination. 2. To have participants the correct mindset.

3. To keep on track, allocate & save time.

4. To have a clear purpose & focus.

The Agenda
B. Elements of an agenda 1. Concise & written. 2. Consist list of topics/items. 3. Presenter. 4. Realistic time frame. 5. Indicate requirement.

The Agenda
C. A standard agenda 1. Minutes of previous meeting. 2. Summary of past actions. 3. Review of progress. 4. Action items. 5. Problem solving. 6. Task assignments. 7. Other Business. 8. Reminder of next meeting.

The Agenda
D. Some agenda hint
1. Set an agenda & stick to it. 2. Order it logically. 3. Review it at beginning of meeting. 4. Put important item first. 5. Work & brief issues prior to meeting. 6. Include inputs to agenda setting process. 7. Have an agenda planning committee.

Pre-meeting preparation

Date & Time. Identify & Confirm Venue. Participants - identify, invite & inform them. Minutes, agendas & working papers. Equipments/Logistics. Refreshments. Transportation. Lodging. Pre-meeting discussion

Conducting A Meeting
I.

The Chairperson. II. Facilitating decision. III. Ground rules. IV. Handling participants.

The Chairperson
A. General

Meetings are conducted by a supervisor. Stay out in front if you intend to lead/chair. Can delegate - dependent on meeting. Start on time and end on time. Ask for suggested agenda addition. State your role at the beginning. State what authority a group will have.

The Chairperson
B. Main Function
1. Task function

Keep the discussion on target. Inform and enforce groundrules. Get focus. Ensures action are assigned & follow up.

The Chairperson
2. Maintenance function

Make sure everyone gets heard. Make sure people needs are met. Maintains control of the meeting flow. Handle & control participant/s well. Maintain momentum. Reach closure.

Facilitating decisions

Pick one challenge at a time. Focus where things went wrong. Understand the problem, not assign blame. Brainstorm potential proposals/solution. Encourage tentative comment. Discuss pros and cons of different approaches. Use analysis techniques - SWOT, 4W1H. Find out where people agree and disagree. Assign further studies. Announce how & when decisions will be made.

Facilitating decisions
MEETING
Analyse & Understand

Decision

Potential Proposal

Impasse

Potential Solution

Ground rules

Only one person speaks at a time. No smoking in meeting room. No private/side conversation. Dont interrupt each other. Everyone participates. Listen as an ally. Bio breaks as needed. Get closure and move forward. Start and end on time. Speak or ask direct to the point.

Handling participants
A. The talker.

Likes to hear their own voice. Joins just about all topics. Wastes time for everybody. Drags meeting at length. Politely make sure everyone knows that its okay to speak about an issue, but no one likes unnecessarily long meeting

Handling participants
B. The belligerent.

Just doesnt agree with anyone. Explaining means yelling & scream. Puts everyone on the defensive. Not willing to listen. Not willing to compromise.

Let him/her be the chairperson or tell him/her firmly of the poor behaviour.

Handling participants
C. The sleeper. Goes to zzz.ZZZZZZ. Suddenly joins midway. Makes nosy noise.

Talk with the sleeper to stay awake in future or station somebody near him/her

Handling participants
D. The interrupter.

Always jumps in conversation. Cant wait his/her turn to speak. Always his/her interruption is irrelevant. Discuss, suggest, nice, and unembarrasing ways that you can help overcome his/her personality trait.

Handling participants
E. The wanderer/sideliner. Goes Off on a tangent. Takes everyone to his trip.

Its best to take this discussion later perhaps during coffee break or handle it off-line

Handling participants
F. The backsitter.

Wants to escape. Not interested in the meeting. Will start own meeting at the back. Dont let him/her join in the next meeting Or Let him/her sit in front/nearby in future Or Ask him/her opinion on any juncture.

Participating A Meeting
Good communication skills
Listening Speaking/Contributing Disagreeing

Participating A Meeting
Additional Tips

Be prepared. Look confident and interested. Consider where you sit. Be cool.

Follow Up Work
Minutes of meeting. Meeting summary. Action taken. Meeting evaluation. Post-mortem.

Thank You