You’re so smart to acknowledge meeting facilitation as a critical skill to master in your new role as team leader.  There are several very common pitfalls….here’s how to avoid them!

Pitfall #1 – Failure to Prepare

Many meeting leaders make the colossal mistake of thinking that sending out a meeting invitation is all the preparation necessary.  Invariably, these are the meeting leaders who sit exasperated at the front of the room wondering, “How did this happen?” while their meeting unravels before their eyes.

Solution #1

Most meetings fail not because of what happens during the meeting but because of what didn’t happen before the meeting.  Your best defense against a” meeting from hell” is good, solid preparation before the session.  Document (write it down – don’t just think about it!) the meeting purpose, agenda, and limit.  This process of writing down these key elements often proves harder than you might think and is a great test to let you know if you’re really prepared for your upcoming meeting.  Then, take the agenda one step further and think through how you plan to facilitate each item on the agenda.  For example, if you plan to select the top 3 functional requirements for the new system, how do you plan to do that during the meeting (discussion and majority rule, multivoting, criteria based prioritization, discussion and secret ballot vote, etc.)?  If you wait until the meeting to think about it, you’ve waited too late!

Pitfall #2 – Failure to Intervene Early when the Meeting Loses Focus

All of us have participated in too many meetings where the session lost focus and seemed to wander so much that all we could think about was the work piling up on our desk while we’re wasting our time in yet another meeting!  Too many meeting facilitators are spineless and simply watch the train wreck happen.  Don’t be one of them!

Solution #2

The meeting facilitator’s role is to step in to bring focus and direction if the discussion wanders astray.  Indeed, your job is to intervene and intervene early!  First, ensure the agenda is clearly posted with timings for each section so that you can easily refer to it if discussion wanders off topic or becomes protracted.  Use the “parking lot” to temporarily table any tangent issues that may arise.  Finally, get agreement with the group to use some mutually agreed upon signal to indicate that the meeting has lost focus and needs to be reigned in (e.g. hitting the # sign during a conference call).  (For additional tips on managing rambling discussion during a meeting, see our video clip blink below.*)  If you take these steps, your team will thank you for it!

Pitfall #3 – Failure to Debrief Your Meetings

Even good meeting facilitators often miss this key opportunity to improve their meetings.  Most are so focused on ending the meeting and moving on to the next, they rarely explicitly ask the group to provide feedback on the session, and that is so dangerous.  After all, you can’t fix what you don’t know about!

Solution #3

Get in the habit of taking 5 minutes at the end of a meeting to get feedback from the group on what worked well and what could be improved.  This is particularly important for recurring meetings (where you really have an opportunity to make improvements and benefit from the feedback).  Simply ask each person to share one element of the meeting that worked well and one suggestion for next time.  You will often be amazed by the feedback you receive, and they will be impressed when they see that you’ve actually responded by incorporating their suggestions into future sessions.  As your meetings mature, you’ll debrief less frequently, but it’s very important early on.

Pitfall #4 – Failure to Take Formal Facilitation Training

Partially because we spend so much time in meetings, many leaders fail to acknowledge leading a meeting as a real skill requiring formal training.  We’d never try to change the oil in our car without specific training on how to do it, but somehow we expect to know how to effectively lead meetings without any real training.  This is a HUGE mistake!

Solution #4

Take the time to invest in some formal meeting facilitation training.  Good training should cover not just the basics of how to plan and organize a meeting for success but also provide specific tips and techniques for how to manage those difficult personalities in your sessions – the dominator, the multitasker, the rambler, the whiner, etc.  Furthermore, ensure that the training incorporates role playing where you have the opportunity to not just learn the techniques but also put them into action.  Up to date video vignettes are also another great way to observe and learn different facilitation techniques.   Finally find out whether the course provides supplementary materials to help you continue the learning after the event as well.

*For more information on maintaining focus and managing rambling discussion during a meeting , view this video clip  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AzJDgTjQ79o

Download a pdf of this post here.

If you have a question that you’d like to pose to the Meeting Genie, send it (along with your name and city) to askgenie@meetinggenie.com.

Here’s our recommendation….Instead of focusing on your individual interaction with any specific team member, focus on building a culture of accountability within your team and your team meetings!   So, the next time you’re starting a meeting and your slacker approaches you to let you know they didn’t get a chance to complete their action item as promised, consider this response!

Your team sounds like their motivation tanks are running on “E”, and they need a fill up!  If you can’t identify a significant structural problem with the team (e.g. unclear charter, difficult client, faulty product, etc.), they may just need a bit more acknowledgement and motivation.  Step back and think about how you can best motivate the team to finish the work with a renewed sense of enthusiasm and purpose!

Tips for increasing motivation in your team meetings…

• Let the team know that you’re sensing a drop in morale and ask for feedback.  One of the best ways to gather this feedback is to conduct a meeting debrief.  Simply conduct a round robin asking each person to share one thing that’s working well on the team and one thing that could be changed to enhance the team environment or performance levels.  Simply record all responses on a whiteboard or flip chart and discuss how the team can make changes to incorporate the team’s feedback.  If you’re concerned about team members not being candid, ask team members to record their comments on cards anonymously and drop them into a basket on their way out the meeting room.
• Embed acknowledgment into your meeting agendas by creating an agenda item for peer recognition.  Spend 5-10 minutes at the end of the meeting to allow (and encourage) team members to recognize anyone on the team (or outside the team) who has gone above and beyond and deserves recognition.
• Ask each team member how they would prefer to be rewarded and attempt to customize rewards as much as possible.  Some team members want additional visibility, leadership, and responsibility while others would prefer to have more time off, ability to work from home, or training opportunities.  Make sure you understand what type of reward would be most meaningful to an individual team member and don’t assume everyone is similarly motivated.
• Jazz up your meetings!  If you’ve been meeting onsite, try meeting offsite.  Bring some exotic coffees and pastries and have a “Name that Country” contest at the end of the meeting (with a gag prize awarded to the winner).  Close each meeting by asking each team member to share the best idea they heard that wasn’t theirs.
• Recognize that the tendency on most teams is to punish the team stars by giving them more and more work.  Remember that your team stars need (and deserve) timely acknowledgment and rewards.  See our video clip for more information on motivating team stars. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LIp4VUfRjNc

If you have a question that you’d like to pose to the Meeting Genie, send it (along with your name and city) to askgenie@meetinggenie.com.

Download a pdf of this response here.

Can you relate to this scenario?

Tune in next month for our suggested solution…

You should know that you’re not alone.  This is a big problem for many teams because no one wants to take the time to document the meeting – but everyone recognizes the need.  I call note taking the “rebounding” of meeting facilitation – it’s the hard work that no one on the team wants to do but everyone recognizes the value.    There are several ways to approach this all too common problem.

Tips for capturing meeting notes effectively and efficiently…

• Ask the team to develop a ground rule early on about how meeting notes will be documented.  Many teams will agree to rotate the scribe role.  Others will identify an individual to perform the scribe function for all sessions or agree that the last person to arrive at the meeting will take notes for the next session.
• Never attempt to scribe and lead the meeting at the same time.  You will slow down the meeting and the notes will suffer.  You’re also sending a dangerous signal to the group that you will take on all the responsibility instead of asking them to step up to the plate.
• When appropriate use facilitation techniques that require attendees to document key points.  For example, instead of asking the group to brainstorm potential solutions to a problem, ask them to each document their ideas on post it notes.  Then collect the post its and review them one by one.  The post its then serve as documentation of verbatim feedback.
• Develop a simple template to be used when capturing notes.  The template should include several key components:
  • Attendees/Members Not Present
  • Meeting Agenda
  • Meeting Date, Time, Location
  • Key Points/Decisions
  • Action Items (including task, owner, and due date)
  • Next Meeting Information
• Consider recording important calls or meetings.  Be sure to announce that the call will be recorded prior to the meeting start.

Download a pdf version of this response here. 

If you have a question that you’d like to pose to the Meeting Genie, send it (along with your name and city) to askgenie@meetinggenie.com.

If someone in the meeting is doing any or all of the following, intervention is likely required:

• Talking much more than others in the room
• Continuing to bring the discussion back to his/her preferred topic or point
• Discounting views of others
• Creating an environment that discourages input from others
• Talking over others

When you see this behavior, intervene sooner rather than later!

If you’re concerned about how to intervene, consider the following:

• Ask them to summarize their great points into one or two bullets so the scribe can be sure to capture them in the meeting notes
• Ask other (less talkative) team members for their thoughts on that person’s suggestions and ask that they also add their own
• Write their comments visibly on a flip chart or whiteboard and ask them to comfirm that they’ve been captured accurately
• Ask them to document their comments on the Parking Lot (to be reviewed at the end of the meeting) (used for any comments that are off topic)
• Ask the group to provide comments in round robin format with each person getting 30-60 seconds air time – start the round robin with the person furthest from the dominator

During your next meeting when you see that dominator gaining strength, don’t run for cover…take charge!

View the dominator video clip here.

Download our list of recommended techniques for managing a meeting dominator here.

The truth is that as project managers and team leaders we often convene meetings to obtain status on various issues, and that’s fine.  BUT, the keen and astute meeting leaders shift the paradigm with their teams so that team members understand (and expect) from the inception of the team that anytime they accept a task or action item, the responsibility is THEIRS to continuously keep the team updated on that item.  One of the most efficient ways to do this is to use technology (e.g. collaborative workspaces) that maintain task/action items databases and automatically email team members reminders to update their status on their task/action item (think Evite reminders).  It’s then the team members’ responsibility to update their status so that everyone on the team can be kept in the loop.

View Dana’s suggestions here.

Well, you’re certainly correct that leading virtual meetings can pose some unique challenges, but they can be facilitated quite effectively.  In a virtual setting communication in general becomes more difficult as you don’t have the benefit of those critical non verbal cues.  Also, if you’re leading multicultural groups, it’s important to maintain a level of sensitivity around diversity issues. The good news is that there are a few simple tips that can help you lead these meetings successfully!

Tips for leading virtual meetings with multicultural groups:

• Make an effort to learn more about the cultures represented on the team.  Your team members will appreciate your effort, and the knowledge will equip you to make more culturally sensitive decisions.
• Gain group consensus early on about when the group with meet.  Select a meeting time that seems fair to everyone.  If your group spans the globe, you might initially select noon as the meeting time and then rotate the time every few weeks or months to ensure that one region isn’t always having to get up very early or stay very late to participate in the meetings.
• Establish a ground rule that everyone should be dialed in at least 5 minutes prior to the start time.  This practice helps avoid the phenomenon of latecomers chiming in sporadically during the first five minutes of the call.  If participants get in the habit of dialing in a few minutes before the start time, the leader can actually start the call on time!  (With my last group we actually established a slight punishment for anyone calling in late.  If you hadn’t called in before “roll call”, you had to sing a stanza of “God Bless America” on the call.  The technique worked like a charm with my tight knit group.  I was actually late to a call once and had to sing.  I was never late again!)
• Don’t backtrack for latecomers.  Get participants used to the fact that if they call in late, they will have to catch up after the call.  When you constantly review previous discussion for latecomers, it caters to that behavior and irritates the rest of the team.  Try to build a norm of punctuality for your calls. 
• List all invited participants on a sheet of paper and use that to “call roll” at the beginning of the call (placing a check mark by all attendees).  Once the call has started, place a dot by each speaker’s name when they make a comment.  Periodically, glance down at your list to see which names have no dots by them and sporadically pose questions to those individuals or ask them to comment.
• Establish a ground rule that anyone on the call should hit the # sign whenever they think the discussion has veered off topic or has gone on too long.  This works WONDERFULLY because no one knows who hit the # sign but it serves as a great way to reign in the conversation and avoid rambling discussion.
• Take 5 minutes at the end of the call to debrief and ask participants to share some feedback on what worked well during the call and what could be improved in the future.  This is a great way to highlight issues that might be holding the team back or even bring to light very minor points of concern (e.g. call times are too early for those on the West coast, spent too much time on a particular issue, etc.)
• Try to limit calls to one hour or definitely take a break after an hour if the call must be longer.
• Structure the call so that you’re engaging as many people as possible throughout the call.  (This discourages multitasking.)  Do this by sporadically calling on participants or conducting quick round robins where you ask each person to make a brief comment. 
• If someone is only needed for a portion of the call, structure their issue near the beginning or end of the call and allow them to just call in for that portion.
• Consider using virtual meeting technologies that support polling, file sharing, instant chatting, etc. to increase participant engagement levels.

If you have a question that you’d like to pose to the Meeting Genie, send it (along with your name and city) to askgenie@meetinggenie.com.

 For a pdf copy of this response, click here.

With a cross functional team, it’s very important to ensure that everyone understands the overall process (not just their piece of the process).  There are several techniques that a facilitator can use to help achieve this.  Possibly the best suggestion is to devote some time in the session to documenting the high level process and gaining buy in and agreement on that first.  This documented process then becomes a foundation and point of reference for the team’s future work.

Tips for documenting the high level process with the group:

• Unless you have a specific need to conduct detailed process flow documentation, stay high level
• Start by identifying a high level value chain (or high level phases) for your business (see http://www.quickmba.com/strategy/value-chain/ for more information on value chains)
• Place the high level value chain steps or process phases on large index cards, and place those at the top of the wall.  Potential phases/value chain steps might include the following:
  • Pre Production, Production, and Post Production
  • Strategic Analysis, Detailed Requirements Documentation, System Design, Implementation, and Maintenance
  • Inbound Logistics, Operations, Outbound Logistics, Marketing/Sales, Service
• Ask each participant to document key steps/activities in their part of the process on large sticky notes, then place those underneath the appropriate value chain steps or phases
• Get the entire group involved by having them physically walk along the wall to review the process and add additional sticky notes as needed to fill in gaps in the process. 
• Use this as an opportunity to facilitate a conversation around “what’s not working” and potential process improvements.  To do this review all steps in the process and ask the team to place a sticky note flag on any step they would deem “broken”. 

 For a pdf copy of this response, click here.

Managing the Ground Rule Violator Video Clip