Clarity over what the meeting is to achieve, both in its design and in the minds of its attendees, makes all the difference. So how do you get this?
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While conflict within a meeting can be creative and productive, it can also be wasteful and damaging.It all depends on what the conflict is about. Read More
A key factor in whether conflict is productive or damaging lies in whether that conflict takes place within the context of some level of shared purpose – a common intent that can be explicitly used to harness the merits of each perspective into an agreed way forward.
The greater the sense of shared purpose, the more likely that creative efforts will be found to solve the conflict. But if the conflict concerns the purpose it is very difficult to find common ground to move forward.
Purpose
Agreeing from the outset what a meeting is for is key to maximising the productivity of the thinking and discussion within it.
People recognise that a lot of wasted time takes place within meetings, but without a clear purpose it is difficult for them to agree on which activities are generating that waste. Read More
Good practice is to pre-circulate the objectives and agenda before the meeting – this gives people the opportunity to understand their part, and to effectively prepare themselves for that. However, as the Duke of Wellington’s quote testifies, people still lose sight of the objective amidst the pressures that surround them.
Restating the objective at the start of the meeting gives people the opportunity to reconnect themselves with the purpose of the meeting, and to remind themselves of why this is important to them. Writing the objective up, and placing it in a visually prominent location provides an ongoing reminder of that purpose, and a useful tool for challenging whether the current activity is productively taking the meeting toward that objective.
For strategies concerned with Purpose – click here
Efficiency
Meetings efficiency is all about how well meetings utilise time and people to achieve their goals and deliver value to the organisation.
The factors which affect meetings efficiency are varied, but often reflect the quality of a balance between good disciplines and enthusiastic participation. Read More
Efficient meetings are ones in which there is clear alignment of people and goals, and where the processes have been developed to: Build on that alignment; efficiently resolve differences; engage everybody in supporting the decision making process; and draw out their experience and ideas to best move things forward.
For strategies concerned with Efficiency – click here
Strategic Improvement
Use the model below to develop a vision for how you want your meetings to be different going forward, and then research the resources above to develop a coherent plan for how you plan to bring about improvement.
For other resources which support ‘alignment’, please go to:
https://meeting.toolchest.org/tag/alignment/
