A key tool in the communicator’s toolbox is the ability to use meetings effectively. As we will see in this course, this includes knowing how to plan and organize a meeting, and understanding that there are different types of meetings. Two other key tools are problem-solving and decision-making skills.

            Meetings, by their very nature, are time consuming. That time has to come out of the work day, which means that meetings can often aggravate the very problems that they are designed to solve. Many meetings are called to discuss production, performance, and other elements of getting the job done. As anyone who attends meetings knows, however, people have to set aside other aspects of their jobs in order to attend the meetings to discuss how they could get their jobs done better, more efficiently and more quickly.

            In fact, a common comment—often whispered, or said under the breath—is:

         “If I didn’t have to waste so much of my work day going to so many meetings about getting this project done, I’d have this project done by now.”

            As we will see, that is why it is important to make sure that meetings really are necessary; involve only those people who really need to be there or have something relevant to contribute; are well planned, organized and focused; stay on topic; and are as short as possible.

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2. What This Course Will Cover

            Before you can make your meetings as effective as possible, however, you have to understand the nature of meetings and how they work. Since they are usually about finding solutions to problems—or ways to avoid those problems—it is important to understand both the process of problem solving and that of decision-making.

            Meetings are effective only if they achieve the goal for which they were called. With that in mind, it is obvious that people calling a meeting should have a clear understanding of just what it is they want to accomplish in that meeting—and be sure that their goal is realistic.

            What’s more, they have to make sure that everyone who attends has that same clear understanding.

            The remaining sections of this course will deal with:

Module 2               Different Types of Meetings

Module 3               Do You Really Need a Meeting?

Module 4               Size, and Other Meeting Issues

Module 5               Planning Meetings and Setting Agendas

Module 6               Leading Meetings vs. Managing Meetings

Module 7               Being a Valuable Participant

Module 8               Meetings at Mealtime

Module 9               Meeting Dynamics

Module 10             Identifying Problems

Module 11             Gaining Support

Module 12             Turning Problems Into Opportunities

Module 13             Rational Problem Solving Methods

Module 14             Creative Problem Solving Methods

Module 15             All Meetings Are Not Created Equal

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3. Different Types of Meetings

            There are three general types of meetings, although there is often overlap, so that few meetings are of a single type:

1. Planning:

            As the name implies, planning meetings are designed to help to prepare something for the future. This often includes the problems that people can see that might possibly develop. Planning meetings are held for reasons as diverse as getting ready for the annual office holiday party or the annual stockholders’ meeting, setting production quotas or sales goals, creating a budget for the next fiscal year, adopting a new bookkeeping system, or converting an assembly line to handle a new product.

2. Reporting:

            Reporting meetings deal with what has been going on, what people have done, are doing now, and what they intend to be doing in the future, and where everyone stands, usually in relation to whatever the current plan—or problem—happens to be.  The focus of this type of meeting is on sharing information.

            Here again, the actual “subject” of the meeting can range from looking at the results of the office party or the stockholders’ meeting, to finding out if the production quotas or sales goals have been met, giving departments their annual budget numbers, or seeing how the new bookkeeping system and work on converting the assembly line are doing.

3. Reacting:

            Reaction meetings are usually called to deal with the unexpected, such as problems with the office party, stockholders’ meeting, production quota, sales goals, overspending on the budget, the new bookkeeping system, or converting the assembly line.

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4. Do You Really Need A Meeting?

            We have all heard that there are only two absolute certainties in life: death and taxes. As we have seen, to many in the organizational world, there is a third: meetings.

            Meetings tie up time and resources, and often get in the way of completing the work that was called for by a previous meeting.

            Before having a meeting, you should make sure that it is really necessary. We’ll look at how you can do just that. There are 10 key questions to answer before calling a meeting. They are:

1. What do I really need or want to accomplish?
2. Is having a meeting the best way to get it done? What are the alternatives?
3. What can I do, before the meeting, to increase the chances of its succeeding?
4. What information do the people attending the meeting need before they get to the meeting in order to accomplish the goal?
5. What information and resources should be available to them at the meeting?
6. How can I make sure that the attendees focus on the problem?
7. How much time can we all afford to spend on the problem?
8. When is the best time to have the meeting?
9. Could this meeting of these specific people cause more problems than it solves?
10. What can I do at the meeting to keep it focused and on track?

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5. Size, and Other Meeting Issues

            The larger a meeting is, the harder it is to accomplish anything. However, it must still be large enough to give a voice to everyone involved in the decision-making process. A meeting that is too small will have too few voices, and, as a result, it will probably produce too few suggestions.  It might also engender resentment in those not included in the meeting.

            In the same way that you want to keep out the people who will just be in the way at a meeting, you have to make sure that you have everyone you need.

            Meetings that are too large can become unwieldy as too many people try to voice their ideas.

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Planning a Meeting and Setting the Agenda

            Effective meetings are well-planned meetings—as long as everyone in the meeting follows the plan.

            The more focused the agenda, the more likely you are to accomplish the job you need to get done.

            To get a well-focused agenda, however, takes a certain amount of advance planning. Many executives say that they would rather put in extra time in planning meetings—including who to invite to them—than in actually attending the meeting.

            Some say that a good agenda guarantees a good meeting—as long as people stick to that agenda.

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6. Leading Meetings vs. Managing Meetings

            There is a difference between leading and managing a meeting. It is the same difference between leading and managing employees, and will play a major roll in determining if the meeting participants actually make the best decisions possible.

            If you are running a meeting, you have to know in advance how you will run it. Are you there as:

• Leader?

• Manager?

• Facilitator?

• Referee?

• Drill sergeant?

• Expert?

• To suggest ideas and solutions, or to seek them?

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Being a Valuable Participant

            People are invited to project/programme purpose meetings in order to participate in them, not just to watch. Learning how to participate in a meeting can make both you and the meeting more effective.

            Learning how to be a valuable participant is like learning anything else. It takes time, effort, thought, and practice. It involves watching how other people do it, and then avoiding the mistakes that some make while emulating the successful techniques that you see others use.

            Participating in meetings is as much of a skill—and a highly prized one, at that—as anything else you have had to learn in order to get where you are today.

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7. Meetings at Mealtime

            Not every meeting takes place in a conference room.

            Some of the most important project/programme purpose meetings you ever attend could be over breakfast, lunch, or dinner, and can take place at a golf course, a neighborhood bar and grill, a convention center, picnic, reception, hotel, or a five-star restaurant.

            Conducting yourself at an eating meeting requires good project/programme purpose skills as well as proper etiquette. You also have to realize that the definition of proper etiquette is different in different cultures and countries.

            If alcohol is being served, things can get looser and friendlier – and possibly, more complicated and dangerous.

            There will be times in your organizational life when knowing what fork to use, what hand to hold it in, and what drink not to order, can be as important as knowing how to read a spreadsheet, prepare a budget, or run an entire division.

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Meeting Dynamics

            The nature of project/programme purpose meetings is changing. Conventional face-to-face meetings are part project/programme purpose and part social. They involve a system of group dynamics that we are all familiar with. But the new technology that is bringing us “distance” or electronic meetings is changing the way we have some meetings, the way we relate to the people we are meeting with, and the way we have to present ourselves.

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8. Identifying Problems

            The vast majority of project/programme purpose meetings are called to solve problems. It is important to know how to identify the problems that actually need to be dealt with, since they may not always be those that you expected when the meeting started.

            Quite often the problem you have called a meeting for is not really the problem that needs to be solved. The “obvious” – or surface - problem may be the natural result of a bigger problem that has to be dealt with first.

            Doctors do not automatically treat a patient in pain with pain pills. That is a symptom of the problem. Even though they will deal with the symptom, the know that their primary job is to diagnose and treat the problem that is actually causing the pain.

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Gaining Support

            There is a world of difference between just having a good idea and convincing others that it is good—even the best one available.

            In order to do this, at times, your persuasive abilities might have to be as good as your idea, maybe even better.

            We will look at ways to generate support and commitment for your ideas by developing better presentation skills. While talking to 500 people in an auditorium and to seven people in a conference room can both be considered “speeches,” there are some important differences. 

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9. Turning Problems into Opportunities

            Every problem is an opportunity for action. Focusing on the opportunity instead of the problem can help lead to better, more creative, and more satisfying solutions.

            Before you can see the opportunity that lies buried within a problem, however, you usually have to take a really close look at it, and understand the entire problem; not just the surface or obvious elements, but its root causes.

            There are a number of analytical tools and methodologies that can be used on problems. We will look at them in some detail.

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Rational Problem Solving

            It is said that if the only tool you have is a hammer, all problems begin to look like nails. That’s why it’s important to have more than one tool available for solving problems.

            In this section we will look at a number of linear problem solving tips, techniques, approaches, and methodologies.

            We will also see that one of the most important prerequisites to solving a problem is to be able to actually state it clearly and concisely. There are many in the world of both project/programme purpose and science who believe that a problem, once clearly stated, is well on its way to being solved.

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10. Creative Problem Solving

            Most problems can be solved with linear thinking, that is, rational problem solving—most, but not all.

            At times, however, the only solution is to turn conventional thinking upside down and try something new, something different, something creative.

            Defining how to come up with why a creative idea is creative is like defining what makes a joke funny. You can do it, but the joke isn’t funny anymore.

            Comedy writers create laughter by looking at reality from a perspective that is not apparent to other people, and then describing what they alone can see. In the same way, creativity usually requires looking at a problem from a different angle.

            Sometimes you really do have to put the cart before the horse.  We will look at ways to improve creativity when trying to solve a problem.

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Not All Meetings Are Created Equal

            Some meetings really do require weeks of preparation and planning by a dedicated and well-coordinated team, a solid presentation, and many different contingency plans.

            At other meetings you can walk in with your notes on the back of an envelope, notes you wrote in the elevator on your way to the conference room.

            Earlier, we looked at different meetings in terms of their type or style. Here we will look at meetings in terms of their actual importance.

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Assignments

Matching the Columns

Answers:

1.)    E

2.)    A

3.)    F

4.)    D

5.)    B

6.)    C

Multiple-Choice

1.         Which is incorrect about meetings?

b.      They don’t always include the correct participants

c.       They sometimes cause problems.

d.      They should be planned.

2.         Which of the following are general types of meetings?

c.       Investigating

d.      Reporting

3.         Which are keys to being a valuable participant at a meeting?

a.       Being well-dressed.

b.      Watching how others make mistakes and not copying them.

c.       Knowing what the boss wants.

d.      Acting very concerned even if you are bored stiff.

4.         Meetings are usually called to…

a.       Be creative.

b.      Solve problems

c.       Complain about the organization

d.      Please your supervisor’s boss.

True /False

1._____           Some of the most important meetings could be at a golf course.

2. _____          The nature of project/programme purpose meetings haven’t really changed much in a long

time.

3. _____          Meetings are seldom a key component in decision making.

4. _____          Meetings are often time-consuming

5. _____          Meetings are only effective only if they achieve their stated goal.

6. _____          Planning meetings deal with what’s been going on and where everyone

stands.

Answers:

1.      T

2.      F – distance/electronic meetings have changed meetings dramatically

3.      F – They often provide key information.

4.      T

5.      F – It increases the time