acts of courage to change meetings for good half-day workshop for wecc steve davis, facilitatoru.com

Acts of Courage to Change Meetings for Good

Half-Day Workshopfor WECC

Steve Davis, FacilitatorU.com

Copyright 2011. FacilitatorU.com. All Rights Reserved 2

Introduction Left corporate life frustrated by meetings Became life coach, taught workplace/life

skills at community college Fascinated with group dynamics Started FacilitatorU.com to support group

leaders Wrote TMS to help leaders/participants

change meeting culture


Work Based on Book…


Meeting Statistics

Microsoft study: 69% of meetings are ineffective

Cost of meetings per 1,000 employees = $800,000 Time spent in meetings by prog. managers = 80% Executives = 40% Middle managers = 30-55% Managers and Tech Professionals = 25-50%

$4 BILLION spent in U.S. each year on meetings


Why You Should Care?

Survey conducted by Harrison Conference Services and Hofstra University:

87% assess people’s management abilities based on their ability to lead meetings

81% assess management ability based on how they participate in meetings


Group Aren’t What They Seem

Most people think that groups are simply a collection of individuals.

And that they should work as well collectively as they do individually.


Groups Are…More Complex Than We Think


How Accountable Are Groups?

Groups of individuals are far more likely to err than individuals. Groups give reign to instincts

which individuals acting alone are forced to keep in check.

—T.B. Macaulay—


Does Running a Meeting Ever Feels Like This?


So What Do We Do?

Use basic facilitation skills to minimize confusion and maximize synergy.

Participants can facilitate too!


What is Facilitation?

Skills, processes, attitudes and behaviors that help us make better

decisions in groups.

Manage Process 6) Focus It(7) Park It(8) Contain It(9) Deliver It

Manage Flow10) In It, Not of It(11) Facilitate It

(12) It’s All Good

The 12 Acts of Courage…

Pre-Meeting(1) K-no-w It(2) Ask for It

(3) Prepare for It

Manage Yourself(4) Adjust Your Attitude

(5) Say It


Workshop Objectives

Build on what’s already working well Minimize number of meetings you have Keep meetings on track Plan meetings effectively Get full participation Shift your attitude toward meetings Intervene effectively to improve outcomes


Agenda Simplify to 8 bullets1:00-1:30 Welcome, Agenda, Introductions1:30-2:00 Set the Context and Share Best Practices 2:00-2:30 Minimizing/Planning Meetings; Attitudes2:30-3:00 Intervention Process and Practice

3:00-3:15 Break

3:15-3:45 Dealing with Dominators and Mining Conflict3:45-4:15 Full Participation and Decision Making4:15-4:30 Running Laser Meetings4:30-4:45 Closure and Future Support4:45-5:00 Knowledge Exam


Contain It: Set the Context


Set the Context

The context could be referred to as a container.

The container influences the form, flow, and function of our work together.

A good container (processes/environment) can help us work better together.


How Do We Create Context?

(What) Follow an action-oriented agenda

(How) Use processes to support objectives (e.g. agenda, operating norms, decision-making process, parking lot)

(Who) Warm up participants to work(build energy and give them work to do: roles, input ideas, feedback, etc.)


Current Best Practices?

What is working well in the meetings you attend or lead?

What could be improved?

Write down your responses on an index card, along with your name.


Group Mingle Welcome Activity

Meet as many people as you can and share the answers on your index card.

You don’t have to read the card, let new responses bubble up in conversation.

And it’s OK to borrow other’s ideas!


Best Practices Debrief

Note Taker Volunteer?

What are the most compelling best practices you heard?

What are the most interesting challenges you heard?

How did this activity create context?


How…will we work together?

See Dynamic Dozen in handout

Review or define operating agreements ?

Post agreements and review them often

How could this make your meetings better?


Dealing with Tangents

How do we redirect valid input that isn’t timely to discuss right now?


Park It: Use a Parking Lot

Post a chart labeled, Parking Lot,that can be seen by all.

Park stray issues group agrees important. Park it in the speaker’s language. Park it and move on. Before end of meeting, take time to address

parking lot issues.

How could this make your meetings better?


Modeled setting context for a necessary meeting

What? How? Who?

Meetings are costly What are our alternatives?

Checkpoint


Know It: What’s Our Objective?

Confirm your meeting objective! Simply so a six-year old could get it. That paints a clear picture of the results you

hope to leave the meeting with.


Example Objectives

To decide which project management software tool to purchase.

To define key tasks and assign actions for a new hiring plan.

To determine possible causes and potential remedies for high employee turnover rates.

To brainstorm the elements of a proposal to a potential client.

What do you notice about these statements?


Meeting Alternative?

Avoid meetings if at all possible! Is there a viable alternative?

Hold private conversation(s) Delegate task to 1 or 2 people For info sharing, send electronically For info gathering, use online survey,

phone call, etc.

Others?


As a Participant? What can you do as a participant at this

stage to improve meetings?

Clarify meeting objectives before accepting invitation

Help convener seek a meeting alternative


Act lll: Prepare for It

Meetings that work take some work!

Genius is one percent inspiration and 99% perspiration. Accordingly, a genius is often merely a talented person who has done their homework.

-Thomas Alva Edison -


Pre-Meeting Preparation Phase

Define objectives: WHAT will we do? Decide WHO should be there? Define process: HOW will we do it? Prepare participants

(agenda, prep work, etc.) Leverage time: Radically summarize

shared information!


What’s Your Objective?

A good objective paints a clear picture of the results you hope to achieve by the end of your meeting. Here are some examples. To decide which project management

software tool to purchase. To define key tasks and assign actions for a

new hiring plan. To determine possible causes and potential

remedies for high employee turnover rates. To brainstorm the elements of a proposal to a

potential client.


What’s on Your Agenda? CLEAR action-oriented tasks

Use action verbs, e.g. debate, decide, brainstorm, analyze, etc. (see handout)

Set time limits Assign lead for each item

Get buy-in on Agenda Ask for inputs, questions, and recommended

changes Get group consensus to follow it

You now have a meeting contract. Use it!


Refining Your Agendas

Read guidelines for Preparing Your Agenda in handout c) through j)

Review the following agenda and identify what you would change based on these guidelines and your own good judgment.

Share your findings with group


What’s Wrong With This Agenda?

10:00 Get consensus on changes made to program facilitator’s guide.

Review Action Item Status (Bill). Review brochures for new laptops. Discuss ideas to promote upcoming training. Retention problem. 11:00 End.


Better Agenda 10:00-10:05 Welcome (Bill) 10:05-10:15 Confirm Action Item Status

(Bill) 10:15-10:30 Brainstorm ideas to promote

upcoming training. (Susan) 10:30-10:50 Get consensus on changes

made to program facilitator’s guide. (Steve) 10:50-11:00 Close: Assign new action items,

clear parking lot, acknowledge. (Bill)(Plus order and omissions)


Nicely Humming Group


A Not So Non-Ordinary Reality


To Stay the Course

At times you’ll need to intervene. To do so, you need…

A Process

A Direction

An Attitude


Act IV: Adjust Your Attitude

Be curious, observant and patient

Attitude is a little thing that makes a big difference.

- Winston Churchill - -


First Adjustment…

Lighten Up!

Meetings are more complex than we think…remember?


Second Adjustment…

Be Curious Relate from an attitude of curiosity.Focus on what is desired rather than

what’s not working or what or who is wrong.


Third Adjustment…

Check your assumptions

It’s a capital mistake to theorize before one has data.

- Sherlock Holmes -


Fourth Adjustment…

Be Patient and Persistent

Hold the grandest vision you can imagine and stay open to it.


Curiosity Navigation Practice

In dyads, person with smallest feet takes 3 minutes to…

Share a recent time when you were frustrated at a meeting. What happened, how did you feel, what did you do?

Partners Pretend you’re a six-year old Be VERY curious…ask lots of questions…keep

asking “Why?” Listen and inquire, seek full understanding by

checking perceptions and assumptions!


Curiosity Navigation Debrief

How was it being curious? Did any resistance show up? Were there questions you wanted to

ask but didn’t? What did it feel like being interrupted

this way?


Act VI: Focus It

Focus your group on a common vision

No life ever grows great until it is focused, dedicated and disciplined.

- Anonymous


A Simple Intervention Process

Kindly Interrupt Excuse me, can I stop us for a second? Can I call for a time out? I’m sorry to interrupt but…

Check your Perception It seems to me that we’ve drifted off topic,

what do others think? Are we following the process we agreed to?

When you check your perception, you can’t be wrong!


Intervention Process (Cont’d)

Make request (if necessary) Can we return to talking about x? Why don’t we park that topic and get back

to X? Can we return to our process or agree to

change it? Didn’t we agree to no texting? Is this still an

operating norm we want to keep?


Intervention Practice Intervention Process Review:

1. Kindly Interrupt2. Check your perception3. Make Request (if necessary)

In Triads, practice these intervention scenarios or recall past challenges Edgar keeps texting on his blackberry. Latisha and Jasmine are talking about some

unrelated, unimportant topic. Santiago is frowning, arms crossed and silent. Jacob is the only one talking at this meeting! Margarita is rambling.

Refer to Intervention Speak in Handout


Intervention Debrief

How did the process work for you? How was it being intervened on in this

way? How will you use this tool to improve

your meetings? Other questions or issues?


Act V: Say It

Express Your Truth in Service to the Group

When in doubt, tell the truth.- Mark Twain -


Practice Saying It

Consider a time when you wanted to speak out and say something to someone in a meeting but you didn’t.

Partner A, (longest hair) practice saying what you were afraid to say (5 min). Partner B, simply listen without responding. Partner A continue repeating, rephrasing, and reiterating what you have to say until you feel complete.

Change roles. Now repeat the exercise with partner A listening to partner B.


Debrief

What did you notice about your experience in each of these roles?

How did it feel to say it? What did you learn about expressing

yourself clearly and honestly? Is there a commitment you’d like to

make as a result of this experience?


Please Return at 3:15 pm

synchronize watches

BREAK


Dealing with Dominators

What happens inside when you encounter a dominator?

What are they really looking for? How can you embrace everyone yet let

no one steer the group of course? How can you take control for the group’s

highest good? The Wedging Technique


Wedging Triads Listen very carefully using listening tools Empathize with the speaker Interject filler words like, Uh-ha, ah, hmm, I see Jump in at the next short pause, paraphrase, and

prize what you heard. Redirect to another participant, point, or make

request. Now let’s continue talking about … Let’s review where we are on the agenda. Calling on someone who hasn’t spoken,

Bill what are your thoughts on …? What do others think about this issue?


Copyright 2011. FacilitatorU.com and UW Board of Regents. All Rights Reserved. 57

Wedging Intervention Debrief

How did this technique work for you? How did you feel about interrupting? How did you feel about being

interrupted? How does this change your view of

interrupting to influence the flow of conversation?


It’s All Good: Mining conflict

Be Present View conflict as a gift of authenticity Attend to your Operating Agreements Curb unhealthy conflict Separate people from their behavior Separate Interests from Positions


Revealing Interests

Positions reflect what I want Interests reflect why I want it

Interest-Based Negotiation focuses on the deeper needs of the parties and seeks to integrate those needs to reach agreements

Examples?


Conflict Resolution Activity

Break into triads Shortest person assumes the Manager role Tallest person assumes the Staff Member

role The 3rd person facilitates Playing your role, you have ten minutes

using Interest-Based negotiation to resolve the issue.


Facilitate It: Get Full Participation

Add full participation to operating norms Ask participants to assess participation Ask for a round robin Suggest silent brainstorming Meet in small groups Share contrarian ideas or perspectives Conduct anonymous polling Intervene on dominant group members


Full Participation Brainstorm

Pick a strategy that resonates with you. Think for a couple minutes about how you

could use it in your meetings. Write this idea down in a sentence or two. Take a minute to share with the person

next to you. Share with the class (ball toss).


Deliver It: Getting Results

Make a recording request, when your group is about to move on

Assign action items to specific parties with deadlines

Ask for quick review of action items before the meeting adjourns

Ask questions to help your group converge


Decision-Making Process

Discuss and decide how decisions will be made.

If you don’t know the process, decisions may never be made!

Authority rule, expert, minority, majority, averaging, consensus, default (non-decision)

Each process has its pros and cons.


Follow-Up Strategies

How do we maximize the fruits of our labor? Publish action holder’s name in bold in minutes

within 24 hours. Personalize actions and decisions. Don’t finalize

action items or decisions without assigning an accountable party.

Hold accountable. Place action status updates on next agenda to be led by responsible party.

Be positive versus punitive. Check in regularly with action holders to support and offer needed help and coaching.


Follow-Up Strategy

Write answers to following questions on an index card. What is working well with follow up in

your group? Would could be done to improve it?

Take one minute to Share it with a partner. If there’s time, share with another partner. Debrief with large group.


Running Laser Meetings

Clear and focused purpose Facilitator keeps it crisp; no

tangents allowed Tactical vs. strategic Use Diagnostic approach


Meeting Type?

Thinking Activity Part I: Take 2 minutes as a group to

come up with as many words as you can using only the letters “a through g”. (e.g. bag, cad, etc.)

Part II: Take 2 minutes creating the elements of your perfect vacation if you were to travel together.


Debrief

What did you notice about the two parts of the exercise?

How did one feel different that the other. How did it feel making the transition from one

activity to the other?


Tactical: Quick exchange of information, data, and handling items of immediate concern. (linear, convergent thinking)

Strategic. More interactive exchange of ideas and strategies for the near and long term. (divergent, creative thinking)

Don’t mix them. They required different modes of thinking modes of thinking and skills. “Death by Meeting,” Patrick Lencioni.

Tactical vs. Strategic Meetings


What’s Up Doc?

Has anyone been to a doctor lately?

What were the key themes of the conversation? What kind of information was shared?


Diagnostic Info-Sharing Model Use Diagnostic Model when info needs to be shared

1. Here’s the problem we’re facing.2. Under these conditions, here are your options.3. My recommendation is this.

Facilitate information sharing meetings: Share detailed information prior to meeting Advise participants to prepare/share using model Confine info sharing during meeting to 1 pg.

summary


Integration & Close

Clear Parking Lot Meeting Evaluation Round: What I’m taking away today is … Handout review Future support


Handout Review

12 Acts Summary Preparing your Agenda Dynamic Dozen Full Participation Inventory Meetings can be as easy as 1-2-3, A-B-C Effective Meeting Checklist Get a copy of these slides at:

www.ThisMeetingSux.com/wecc


Further Resources

FacilitatorU.com: resources, tools, and training for group leaders.

Free weekly ezine for group leaderswww.MasterFacilitatorJournal.com

www.ThisMeetingSux.com: 12 Acts of Courage to Change Meetings for Good. A guide for meeting participants.

www.JourneyofCollaboration: 5-day course on Facilitative Leadership

Meeting Coaching and Consultation. I’ll listen in on your meetings to provide feedback and coaching to help you improve.


Exam

acts of courage to change meetings for good half-day workshop for wecc steve davis, facilitatoru.com

Documents

havekeep meetings

meetings group arent

groups of individuals

ineffective cost of

groups aremore complex

group dynamicsstarted

collection of individuals

group leaderswrote tms