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The Secret to Leading Successful Meetings

By Gordon Mandeville
Issue 2.0
Leading a successful meeting is the topic of several books. If you read them, you will
discover what to do. It is not rocket science. However, you wont get the results you
want. Your meetings will only improve incrementally. There is still something missing
and you probably know what it is Everyone is not on the same page.
The most blatant example is called the hidden agenda. That is, someone is at the meeting
for a different interest than the stated purpose and they dont tell you. There are other,
less obvious disconnects. For example, people will have different beliefs and attitudes
about the topic. There are people at meeting who can only see a problem from their
discipline or function. There are people at your meeting who are representing others. I am
sure you can come up with other possible disconnects. Heres one, there are people at
your meeting who dont trust one another.
To make your meetings more effective you need to get people aligned on the purpose,
and you need to build trust. Fortunately, this isnt as difficult as it sounds. You simply
need to include some of the steps of teambuilding at the beginning of your meetings.
There are three elements of teambuilding to include. They are agreeing on the purpose (or
intent), building more trust, and creating and following ground rules.
Strong teams have a clear intention and agreement on the intention. So first, be very clear
about the purpose of your meeting. What result are you trying to produce? What would
make this a successful meeting? Write the purpose at the top of the agenda. In addition,
be very clear about the intention for each item on the agenda. Again, what result are you
trying to produce? Write these under each agenda item. When you publish the agenda in
this format, everyone will know what to expect and they will be better prepared. Before
seeking agreement on these intentions, you need to work with the group on trust and
ground rules.
Strong teams have a high level of trust. The easiest way to increase trust is to increase
communications and to model trust by being open in your communications. So, at the
beginning of the meeting, take time for people to get to know one another better, through
communicating. (This will feel uncomfortable and may seem like a waste of time, but it
will payoff. Try it.) For example, ask people to introduce themselves and to tell the group
what would make this meeting worth their time. To go further, you can ask them to
mention something the group doesnt know about them. Experiment with different
approaches for the opening communications at your meetings. I call this the check-in.
Next, set some ground rules for the meeting. These help maintain an environment of
trust. If there is time, have the group create the ground rules. If there isnt, you propose
them and ask people for feedback. Some simple yet powerful ground rules are listening
to one another, refrain from judging statements about anyone, stay on topic, deal
with facts, seek win-win and tell the truth.
Gordon@Giantconsultants.com

508-451-4986

Now you and the group are ready to seek agreement on the purpose of the meeting. Start
a dialog. Be sure that everyone speaks. Listen intently to those who disagree. Take their
advice, enroll them, or ask them if they can support going forward even though they
disagree.
Having followed these guidelines, you have increased the level of teamwork in the group.
Proceed with the agenda and follow the ground rules. Listen, listen, and listen. People
will participate more completely if they feel they are listened to and they are not judged.
Your meetings will be significantly more effective.
Here is a list of steps for a successful meeting. They come from my research and my
experience. It may not be practical to do all of them for every meeting. Experiment.

Publish the agenda before the meeting and ask for input. Use the format described
above in paragraph 4. See attachment a for an example.
Call the participants and enroll them in the purpose of the meeting.
Be sure that you have all the people at the meeting you need for the results you
want to produce.
Start the meeting with the teambuilding steps from above. (Building more
trust, creating ground rules and agreeing on the purpose.)
Recruit someone to recorder. Ask them to record the results and decisions from
the meeting.
Recruit someone to be the discussion manager to assist with facilitation. They
are to keep the discussion focused on the topic, keep it fact based, encourage
everyone to participate, keep people from dominating and assure that people are
listening to one another. The discussion manager can call for a time out for
purposes of discussing the process of the meeting.
When new items come up that are not on topic, record them for discussion at
another time.
Keep the discussion fact based. That is, we all speak about our opinions and
beliefs as if they are facts. We are not even aware of this. So, be sure that speakers
make it clear when they are giving their opinion and when they are providing
facts.
As you introduce each agenda item, state the purpose or the result to be produced.
Ask if there is any discussion on the purpose.
At the end of the meeting, have the recorder read back the results and decisions.
Seek clarity and agreement. Maintain an action register of promised actions,
including subsequent results.
Ask for feedback at the end of the meeting about how to improve.
Set a date for the next meeting.
Between meetings check-in with people who promised a result. See if they need
some support.

Good-luck. This is an art, not a science. Creating more teamwork is a process. It


increases with practice. It leads to amazing results.
Gordon@Giantconsultants.com

508-451-4986

Further reading:
Breakthrough Business Meetings: shared leadership in action. Robert Levasseur,
Backinprint.com, second edition 2000.
Effective Meetings: The Complete Guide. Clyde W. Burleson, John Wyley and Sons.
1990. ( Out of print, available secondhand at Amazon.com or check your library.)
Great Meetings: how to facilitate like a pro. Dee Kelsey and Pam Plumb, Hanson Press
Park, third edition 2001. ( Revised and expanded edition September 2004)
How to Run a Successful Meeting in Half the Time, Milo O. Frank; Simon and Schuster;
1989. ( Out of print, available secondhand at Amazon.com or check your library.)
The Successful Meeting Master Guide , Barbara Palmer and Kenneth Palmer, Prentice
Hall 1983. ( Out of print, available secondhand at Amazon.com or check your library.)

Gordon@Giantconsultants.com

508-451-4986

Attachment a: Sample agenda

Agenda for the Leadership Team Meeting


Meeting Purpose: The primary item is to initiate an intensive process to increase sales.
Date and time: June 2, 2006 starting at 4:00 pm and ending at 6:00 pm.
Location: The Board Room

I. Review of 2005 sales and year-to-date sales data. Note that sales are running 20%
below the plan for 2006.
Purpose: Determine the root cause of low sales. See the attached sales reports.
II. Brainstorming to increase sales.
Purpose: Decide on three initiatives to increase in-year sales. Charter and start
these initiatives immediately.
III. New milling machine purchase request for Area 3.
Purpose: Decide whether or not to purchase the new machine. See the attached
business case.
IV. Gerry will lead a discussion about the Teams values.
Purpose: Increasing teamwork among the leaders.

Gordon@Giantconsultants.com

508-451-4986

Attachment b: Sample action register

Leadership Team Action Register (Revised to reflect decisions and results of 6-2-06 meeting)

Item No.

Date

Owner

1-5-26

5-26-06

Beth

1-5-26

5-26-06

Bob

1-6-2

6-2-06

Gerry

2-6-2

6-2-06

Gerry

3-6-2

6-2-06

Kathy

Description
Create detailed sales reports YTD.
Create business case for new milling
machine for Area 3.
Form a team to analyze and acquire
data for the root causes of low sales.
Report data for root causes 1 and 2.
Determine resources and plan for the
three immediate sales initiatives.

Promise Date
6-2-06
6-2-06

6-16-06
6-16-06
6-09-06

Note that the item number includes the month and day that the action item was created.

Results
Sales data presented to Leadership
Team 6-2-06
Prepared for 6-2-06, but not presented
due to sales emergency. On hold
pending improvement in sales.

Issue 2.0
Added an example agenda
Defined discussion manager
Defined recorder
Added an example action register

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