{"id":2289,"date":"2015-05-25T18:35:59","date_gmt":"2015-05-25T18:35:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/buyingfacilitation.com\/blog\/?p=2289"},"modified":"2015-09-17T17:19:05","modified_gmt":"2015-09-17T17:19:05","slug":"meetings-the-purpose-the-pain-the-possibility","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/buyingfacilitation.com\/blog\/meetings-the-purpose-the-pain-the-possibility\/","title":{"rendered":"Meetings: The Purpose, The Pain, The Possibility"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>As business folk, we hold meetings regularly. Yet often we don\u2019t accomplish what we set out to achieve. Why?<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>The Purpose<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Meetings are held to accomplish a specific, beneficial outcome requiring the attendance of the right people with the right agenda.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>The Problem\/Pain<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Often we end up with miscommunication, wasted time, incomplete outcomes, misunderstanding, lack of ownership and ongoing personnel issues \u2013 sometimes an indication of internal power and faulty communications issues.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>The Possibility<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>With greater success we can: stimulate thinking; achieve team building, innovation, and clear communication; and efficiently complete target issues. Here are some problem areas and solutions:<\/p>\n<p><b>People.<\/b> When outcomes aren\u2019t being met effectively it\u2019s a people- and management problem including: fall-out, sabotage, and resistance; long execution times; exclusion of peripheral people; restricted creativity and communication; exacerbated power and status issues. Are the most appropriate people (users, decision makers, influencers) invited? All who have good data or necessary questions?<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Rule: unless all \u2013 all \u2013 relevant people show up for the meeting, <b>cancel it<\/b>. It\u2019s impossible to catch people up or have them collaborate, add creative thoughts, or discuss annoyances. Once it\u2019s known that meetings aren\u2019t held unless all are present, the frequency, responsibility, and motives shift.<\/li>\n<li>Rule: unless all \u2013 all \u2013 of the people who will touch the outcome from the meeting\u2019s goals are in some way represented, the outcome will not reflect the needs of all causing fallout later, with resistance, sabotage or a diminished outcome.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>Agenda.<\/b> No hidden agendas! Recipients of potential outcomes must be allowed to add agenda items prior to the meeting.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Rule: unless all \u2013 all \u2013 of the items of ultimate concern are on the agenda, the meeting will be restricted to meet the needs of a few with unknown consequence (resistance and sabotage).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>Action.<\/b> Too often, action items don\u2019t get completed effectively. How do action items get assigned or followed up? What happens if stuff\u2019s not done when agreed? How can additional meetings be avoided?<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Rule: put a specific, consensual, and supervised method in place to ensure action items get accomplished as promised.<\/li>\n<li>Rule: as meeting begins, get consensus on what must be accomplished for a successful outcome. This initial discussion may change agenda items or prioritize them, detect problems, assumptions, resistance before action items are assigned.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>Discussion.<\/b> How long do people speak? How do conversations progress? How do the proceedings get recorded? What is the format for discussions? How is bias avoided?<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Rule: record (audio) each meeting so everyone who attends can have it available later. Folks who didn\u2019t attend are not privy to this audio. (See People above).<\/li>\n<li>Rule: design a time limit for speaking, and rules for topics, presentations, discussions, cross talk.<\/li>\n<li>Rule: include periods of silence for thought, notes, reflection.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>Understanding.<\/b> Does everyone take away the same interpretation of what happened? How do you know when there have been miscommunications or misunderstandings?<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Rule: unless everyone has the same perception of what happened for each topic, there is a tendency for biased interpretation that will influence a successful outcome.<\/li>\n<li>Rule: one person (on rotation) should take notes, and repeat the <i>understanding<\/i> of what was said to get agreement for each item before the next item is tackled. This is vital, as people listen with\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/sharondrewmorgen.com\/diversity-and-bias-how-to-hear-different-people-differently\/\" target=\"_blank\">biased filters<\/a> and make flawed assumptions of what\u2019s been said\/agreed.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>Transparency<\/b>. Agendas should be placed online, to be read, signed-off, and added to.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Rule: whomever is coming to the meeting must know the full agenda.<\/li>\n<li>Rule: everyone responsible for an action item must be listed with time lines, names of those assisting, and outcomes.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>Accomplishments<\/b>. Are items accomplished in a suitable time frame? What happens when they aren\u2019t?<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Rule: for each action item, participants must sign off on an agreeable execution. A list of the tasks, time frames, and people responsible must accompany each item, and each completed task must be checked off online so progress is accountable.<\/li>\n<li>Rule: a senior manager must be responsible for each agenda item. If items are not completed in a timely way, the manager must write a note on the online communication explaining the problem, the resolution, and new time frame.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Meetings can be an important activity for collaboration and creativity if they are managed properly and taken as a serious utilization of time and output. Ask yourself: Do you want to meet? Or get work accomplished collaboratively?<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">__________<\/p>\n<p>Sharon Drew Morgen is the author of <b><i><a href=\"http:\/\/didihearyou.com\/read\" target=\"_blank\">What? Did you really say what I think I heard?<\/a><\/i><\/b> \u00a0and NYTimes Business Bestsellers in the area of sales, decision facilitation, change management, and helping buyers buy. She is developer of Buying Facilitation\u00ae and a recognized thought leader in communication and decision making. She is a coach, trainer, speaker, and consultant. For those in sales, coaching or leadership want to communicate better\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/n\/?sharondrew&amp;aref=1432216633552376&amp;medium=email&amp;mid=bc7e167G1fdaf75dG51697ebaf2df8G52Gca53&amp;bcode=1.1432216633.AbmDX_dimNqx98Wq&amp;n_m=sdm%40austin.rr.com\">Sharon Drew Morgen<\/a>\u00a0has the tools to help make improvements with online learning, group coaching, or on-site training. Sharon Drew can coach and train your sales teams or license trainers to prospect and get more appointments by finding real buyers on the first call. \u00a0She can be reached at :<a href=\"mailto:sharondrew@sharondrewmorgen.com\">sharondrew@sharondrewmorgen.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>As business folk, we hold meetings regularly. Yet often we don\u2019t accomplish what we set out to achieve. Why? The Purpose Meetings are held to accomplish a specific, beneficial outcome requiring the attendance of the right people with the right agenda. The Problem\/Pain Often we end up with miscommunication, wasted time, incomplete outcomes, misunderstanding, lack [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Meetings: The Purpose, The Pain, The Possibility - buyingfacilitation.com\/blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"http:\/\/buyingfacilitation.com\/blog\/meetings-the-purpose-the-pain-the-possibility\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Meetings: The Purpose, The Pain, The Possibility - buyingfacilitation.com\/blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"As business folk, we hold meetings regularly. 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