meeting management Archives - Dennis E. Gilbert

02
Feb 21
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Formal Meetings or Hallway Chatter, Which One?

Tags : change meeting management meetings pivot strategy

Many businesses want to make a choice, pivot direction, or start something brand new. The team is assembled. Often within formal meetings. Is that the best idea generator? Is it where the decisions are made?

When the conference room lights are turned out and everyone is gone are there continued discussions happening behind closed doors?

Is there a meeting after the meeting? When the Zoom session is over is there another meeting, a telephone call, or a long email message?

Formal Meetings

Brainstorming sessions can be very productive.

Unfortunately, it often takes advanced facilitation skills to bring everything out. Important items are left unsaid, others are strategic and prearranged to create a specific flow, or worse, they’re selectively designed to navigate towards a predetermined outcome.

Wouldn’t it be great to capture it all?

No manipulation, no behind the scenes strategy, and just open and honest flow?

Some of the best and most truthful ideas come from the hallway chatter. That is when the information isn’t being protected, guarded, or facing criticism.

Hallway Chatter and Cocktail Napkins

Many great ideas and inventions are said to have occurred on a cocktail napkin. Some appear on yellow legal pads, others in an executive portfolio, and still others are written in a spiral bound notebook.

As it turns out, many of the decisions made, policies adopted, and future directions are the product of the conversation outside of the meeting.

They happen when ridicule is less feared and the consequences are only fairy tales or negative fantasies. There seems to be less risk and yet more power.

Pay close attention to the new idea presented in the hallway. Take a look at the cocktail napkin drawing, or what is presented from the ruffled edges of the yellow legal pad.

Often these are the honest ideas and the ones having enough risk to actually spark positive change.

-DEG

Dennis E. Gilbert is a business consultant, speaker (CSP^TM), and culture expert. He is a five-time author and the founder of Appreciative Strategies, LLC. His business focuses on positive human performance improvement solutions through Appreciative Strategies®. Reach him through his website at Dennis-Gilbert.com or by calling +1 646.546.5553.

31
Dec 20
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Communication Rhythms May Be Where To Start

Tags : effectiveness focus meeting management mindset psychology of work

What are your communication rhythms? When are the meetings, how long, and how often? Do you call, email, send text messages, or leave post-it notes?

Many workplace professionals express the need for more effective communication. Have you really thought about what you communicate and how it conditions everything that happens next?

It matters for identifying priorities, it affects the sales funnel, the supply chain, and even involves stalled work and dead ends.

Sometimes knowing where to start gets its start by simply starting something. It may be as simple as picking a place and digging in.

A good place to start improving your workplace communication may be by developing a more thorough understanding of exactly how it works and what it impacts.

It impacts everything, but how?

Communication Rhythms

What gets discussed sets the tone, the mood, and the energy. This is the building block for how it works.

Are your meetings spent talking about wrongdoings, shortcomings, and poor behavior? Are they spent talking about why sales are down instead of where the next opportunity exists? Is there an analysis of gossip, rumors, and drama?

Certainly, all of those things are a part of the culture. Make them the smallest piece instead of the largest.

Focus on behaviors that are connected to where you want to be, not where you are now, and especially not where you were last month.

What you talk about, whether you are leading or following will be what develops as the focus. It creates a mindset for what happens next.

If you’re struggling and don’t know where to turn, it might be time to change your rhythm.

Get a new beat.

-DEG

28
Oct 20
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Factual Conversations, Opinions, and Leadership

Tags : communication conversations facts meeting management opinions

Do you have factual conversations? What about in the staff meeting, are facts being presented or more of just opinions?

Effective communication is a highly sought-after skill. One great thing about communication is that even just one person on the team learning to be more effective can help team performance.

Have you considered how you verbally communicate? What about your written word in things like email or text messaging?

Workplace Conversation

Imagine at the start of the staff meeting someone is late. Let’s assume that someone is named Susan.

Suddenly a meeting member blurts out, “Let’s just get started, Susan is always late.”

Always?

Nobody wonders whether is Susan is always late, or just late once in a while. Is always a fact or an opinion?

Multiply this concept to the daily narrative floating around your workplace. How much of the communication is factual?

There is an argument to factual communication. The argument is that it is often not as compelling.

Buy our new product, we recently sold 3 to the first customer.

As compared to:

Buy our new product, it’s selling fast.

Opinions are often disguised as facts when they are delivered in a compelling and impact-oriented manner. In addition, when you prey on the recipient’s emotions it often calls people to action.

Fear is a big seller.

Start using this product today. Act now before we’re sold out.

The fear of course, is that if you don’t buy now, there won’t be any left to purchase.

Factual Conversations

Leading in your workplace environment is always about communication. You are often selling. Whether it is selling your ideas, creating buy-in for a change effort, or selling motivation and inspiration.

One of the biggest underlying challenges of leadership is navigating balance. With everything there is a magical balance.

Are you having factual conversations? What is providing the most impact?

The most impact often exists somewhere in the middle. The exact facts matter and often spark action when communicated in a compelling manner.

-DEG

Dennis E. Gilbert is a business consultant, speaker (CSP^TM), and corporate trainer. He is a five-time author and the founder of Appreciative Strategies, LLC. His business focuses on positive human performance improvement solutions through Appreciative Strategies®. Reach him through his website at Dennis-Gilbert.com or by calling +1 646.546.5553.

23
Oct 20
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Meeting Decisions May Be The Hold-Up

Tags : balance choices decisions meeting management time

Is your workplace culture caught up in meeting decisions? Decisions that are always contingent on holding a meeting?

Meetings often feel necessary and certainly, many of them probably are. Meeting effectiveness matters because too many details, a lack of fact-finding, or the wrong people at the meeting can derail even the best intentions.

Most of the best work that you do comes when you find the right balance. The balance between too much and too little, too authoritarian or too relaxed, and even too fast or too slow.

Size Matters

In the smallest of businesses, the owner makes the decisions. There is a time to contemplate and study, and also a time to act. The owner can, at his or her descrestion, act fast.

Big companies have different hurdles. The decision-making process is often slower, seemingly more calculated, and often tied up with too many people having a hand in the pot.

Decision quality is often a concern. One side believes the decision was made too soon and without enough information. The other side believes there was analysis paralysis and too many details.

Who really suffers?

Meeting Decisions

Ultimately, it is likely the customer who suffers the most.

They have to deal with delays, less quality, and often rising prices.

Who has the bigger advantage? The big company or the small company?

While the big company has more market share and thus exposure and reputation, the smaller company is nimbler and more flexible. Decisions mean outcomes and outcomes mean action.

Your next decision and the time it wastes or maximizes may not only be holding you up, but it may also be holding you back.

Are you surfing the status quo or are you blazing a trail for future success?

It’s probably a balancing act.

Ending the meeting or holding one will help you find the right balance.

-DEG

28
Oct 19
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A Problem with Meeting Problems

Tags : efficiency meeting management metrics problem solving

There are a lot of reasons why meetings are held. Sometimes it is about ensuring a message is heard and understood. In other cases, it is about problem solving. Are meeting problems bringing you down?

When you look to the task force, the committee, or the project management update there is a direct objective in mind. Objectives should be connected to goals, metrics, and measurement.

Picking Low-Hanging Fruit

Part of the meeting then is about calling out the goals and objectives and gathering updates about status and measurements. Items that are deficient or not yet completed are open for discussion.

People may bring excuses or try to cast blame, yet often, many problems are being solved each day. The difficult reality is that the tough problems tend to linger. If they were easy to solve, they probably would have been solved by now.

Instead of a meeting about updates, you may be having a meeting about the challenges, the hard parts, or the sticking points.

Procrastination often leads to doing the simplest tasks first. It is a form of picking the low-hanging fruit.

Meeting Problems

Better may be to address the toughest parts up front.

A tough part broken down into smaller pieces is of course easier to manage and creates a sense of progress and accomplishment. Instead, often, the tough part is set aside. It is not broken down into smaller pieces. It’s just waiting.

Waiting on problems to fix themselves sometimes happens, yet for most of our workplace challenges this seldom occurs.

A problem that isn’t going to get fixed easily is often more about the assumed depth, energy required, or collaboration effort than it is about its size.

Meeting problems are often tough because the easy parts are nearly always tackled first. If you want to improve the efficiency of the meeting come prepared to tackled the big problems in smaller pieces.

Old news, yet, have you considered the flow of your meetings?

-DEG

Dennis E. Gilbert is a business consultant, speaker (CSP^TM), and culture expert. He is a five-time author and the founder of Appreciative Strategies, LLC. His business focuses on positive human performance improvement solutions through Appreciative Strategies®. Reach him through his website at Dennis-Gilbert.com or by calling +1 646.546.5553.

19
Dec 18
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The Failure of Introductions Around the Room

Tags : introductions leadership meeting management networking

Honestly, I always thought it was silly and a waste of time. It may be okay for a very small group to get better acquainted. However, in settings of more than a few it is probably a failure. How are introductions managed in your meetings?

Does the meeting host or leader, “Go around the room?”

Why do some trainers or meeting facilitators do this? Why do they waste valuable time passing the baton from person to person?

The answer is often easy. They haven’t prepared and it is a great way to spend some time (wasting time) putting the burden on the participants.

Introductions

About eight years ago I was delivering a workshop at a university. The participants were all employees. Certainly not everyone knew everyone.

After about 45-minutes of the seminar I opened for some questions. A faculty member quickly jumped in and said, “I don’t know everyone here. Can we spend a few minutes and go around the room?”

I had another more recent case. In this case I was working for a university (on behalf of) and on a break my university contact asked me, “Who is in the room?”

I replied with, “I’m not sure, who signed up?” Keeping in mind that there were more than thirty participants in this session.

The next question was, “You didn’t go around the room with introductions?”

And so, it continues. It isn’t just in academia, it happens in other sectors too.

What’s the Failure?

One of the biggest fails is the idea that most meeting hosts do this in-part to fill a scheduled time-slot. The pressure is off them to deliver while everyone is going around the room.

Another failure is, who is really listening? As the baton gets closer to you, you are planning what you’ll say. Depending on seating you may not be able to clearly see everyone, so you just hear a voice, or people rubbernecking around the room. Awkward.

Some better ideas? Prepare in advance. Publish a list with biographical sketches, use name tags, or tents. Insist on networking. Point out a few honorable mentions. If you want them to share something tell them you’ll be pointing them out in advance.

Want to know the quickest way to waste twenty-five minutes? Ask a group of thirty plus participants to, “Go around the room.” It may be more productive to give an extra fifteen-minute break and suggest more networking.

If you’re the facilitator, prepare, and use your time wisely. Deliver value, not a silly exercise that stalls the real work to be done.

-DEG

AFTER THOUGHTS: I’ve received some push back on this post. I knew it would be controversial before I hit the Publish button. Yes, there may be an appropriate time and setting to go around the room for introductions. I have done it in certain circumstances or situations. Largely though, as a professional in the field, my opinion is that this more ineffective rather than effective. If a goal is to have people get to know each other, an activity specifically geared towards accomplishing that would be better. And yes, knowing your audience is very important but to the extent possible that should be known in advance, not in the moment. The reason for my writing this post is that I see this too often being used as a crutch by the unprepared. It takes the professional out of professionalism. Then, all that remains is an ism.

Dennis E. Gilbert is a business consultant, speaker (CSP^TM), and culture expert. He is a five-time author and the founder of Appreciative Strategies, LLC. His business focuses on positive human performance improvement solutions through Appreciative Strategies®. Reach him through his website at Dennis-Gilbert.com or by calling +1 646.546.5553.

Dennis Gilbert on Google+

22
Mar 18
-

Meeting Voice, Do You Have It?

Tags : audience leadership meeting management voice

It would not take you long to find someone in your workplace who absolutely dreads going to meetings. Are the meetings really that boring and uninformative? Are they a waste of time? Does someone have meeting voice?

Meeting voice is a condition. Many people chairing meetings have it. It is Charlie Brown’s teacher. So now, you know.

Attention Span

How is it in a first world country where there is so much technology people have stopped listening? Many people believe that their uptake on information is at astounding levels. So much so that they don’t even need to listen any more. When in doubt they may just ask Siri.

The reality may be that there is so much noise, so much clutter, that people have stopped listening.

Savvy Marketers

This drives the marketer crazy. It requires a degree in psychology to reach the target audience. The savvy marketer will find a voice though. It is well known that meeting voice won’t reach the target audience, build connections, or sell products. Mad Men knew this in the 1960’s and it is still true today.

People probably aren’t going to listen closely if it is hard. The easy route is faster, safer, and requires less energy.

Technology Surf

Mobile is growing in popularity. People surf their smartphones for nearly everything. They don’t do a deep dive, they don’t want the details. They want headliners, fast punch lines and sub sixty-second videos. People are scanning, they aren’t reading or studying.

What happens with all of this activity? Certainly there is miscommunication. Nobody is reading the fine print, details don’t matter, and who needs to learn when you can just ask.

What does this have to do with meeting voice? Meeting voice is a condition you don’t want. If you’re going to speak you’re going to have to be direct. Hours and hours of meetings are likely not effective.

No More Meeting Voice

There is so much noise in people’s heads. If even they hear you, it doesn’t mean they’re listening. They may be present, but they are not engaged. Some will claim information overload, others will miss the call to action completely.

If you are going to have effective meetings, you are going to have lose the meeting voice. Otherwise, you’ll notice more of the technology prayer. A condition easily spotted when a person is surfing their smartphone while holding it just below the tabletop.

Think more like the marketer. It will help.

– DEG

Dennis E. Gilbert is a business consultant, speaker (CSP^TM), and corporate trainer that specializes in helping businesses and individuals accelerate their leadership, their team, and their success. He is a five-time author and some of his work includes, #CustServ The Customer Service Culture, and Forgotten Respect, Navigating A Multigenerational Workforce. Reach him through his website at Dennis-Gilbert.com or by calling +1 646.546.5553.

Dennis Gilbert on Google+

11
Jan 18
-

Meeting Cancelled, What Will You Do?

Tags : cancelled effectiveness meeting management productivity

In workplaces everywhere, there are a lot of meetings. Meetings for strategy, meetings for follow-up, meetings intended to improve communication, and so many more. Imagine if your meeting cancelled, what would happen?

In bad or difficult weather conditions, schools and businesses shut down. For some that is a good time, for others not so much.

Lost Forever

For the restaurant it often means revenue lost since people will still eat that day but not at their restaurant. It is a loss they won’t get back the next day because people won’t eat twice as much. It is gone, forever.

Similar situations exist internally in our organizations. Sometimes the meeting feels needed, and other times it is taken for granted, much of the time participants feel redundancy and wasted time.

If your meeting was cancelled today, or postponed until the next day what would happen? What would happen to revenue, production goals, or new client acquisitions? Does the sales funnel get a dent or a bulge?

When the meeting is cancelled certainly some will rejoice. Their excitement may come from a reduction in stress, a temporary reprieve from workload, or not having to listen to redundant chatter.

Meeting Cancelled

What would you do if the meeting were cancelled?

Would you take the time to do something constructive? What if you started early on your next task did that one thing that you’ve been procrastinating about, or helped someone else with a project that has fallen behind?

Imagine if you jumped in and started selling, invited people to participate, and encouraged productivity for time gained, not time lost.

Then the real magic starts. What if all of the activity gained, new opportunities explored, and bottom line results were better than what came before?

Would you suggest the meeting is rescheduled?

More Is Better?

When we work from the mindset of more is always better we may discover a hidden gem. Abundance often has two sides, gain and loss.

Perhaps the meeting wasn’t necessary after all. Maybe you should cancel more.

– DEG

Dennis Gilbert on Google+

06
Mar 17
-

Running the Meeting When No One Agrees

Tags : arguments disagreement leadership meeting management

Are meetings meant for arguments? Is that the purpose, to bring people together to argue? What do you do when no one agrees?

There are more groups than what we can easily count. Groups typically represent a cause, a need, or a special interest. There are boards of directors, committees, and the ever popular task force. Some form to make decisions, others only to provide oversight and accountability.

When people come together for a meeting it is typically to decide on something, share new information, or to help set future direction. If you’ve attended a few meetings you’ve probably recognized that sometimes there is a lot of arguing.

Arguments

How important is the work that the group represents? Is arguing and disagreement a productive use of everyone’s time?

Sometimes someone will argue just to get a win. They’re hopeful to get a chunk of what they represent heard or thrown into the bylaws.

Disruptive impact might be their goal. They believe that their argument that will somehow make a difference, it might set the pace, or evoke positive change.

It does sometimes, and sometimes it slows the purpose or creates a distraction.

What might really be most important though is the work that the group accomplishes. It is the reason that they come together in the first place. They believe in the cause or the necessity of the group. There is intention to piggy back off one another’s skills and life experiences.

The group that comes together intends to stay together. At least usually that is the case. They exist for a reason. The reason is not about arguing but it is about progress. It is likely not about one point of disagreement as compared with the thousands of others which everyone agrees.

When No One Agrees

Groups who understand that the work that they do is too precious, too valuable, or too important to waste time being sidetracked on disagreements are the same groups who will accomplish something. They’ll do something great, memorable, and for a cause.

Their cause is something that they’ll always support. It is why they’ve come together in the first place. Their work is too important.

If you’re running the meeting, will it be for the cause or for the argument?

The cause might be most important.

Probably everyone will agree.

– DEG

Dennis E. Gilbert is a business consultant, speaker (CSP^TM), and corporate trainer that specializes in helping businesses and individuals accelerate their leadership, their team, and their success. He is a four-time author and some of his work includes, Forgotten Respect, Navigating A Multigenerational Workforce and Pivot and Accelerate, The Next Move Is Yours! Reach him through his website at Dennis-Gilbert.com or by calling +1 646.546.5553.

Dennis Gilbert on Google+

22
Feb 17
2

Meeting Management: How Long Should Meetings Last?

Tags : brain power cognitive communication meeting management

Make no mistake about it. Meetings can be both valuable and important. The question many people ask about meeting management is, “How long should the meeting last?”

Just to be clear, there are many different types of meetings. There are status meetings and update meetings. There are the meetings known as staff meetings, manager meetings, sales meetings, and roll out meetings. Let’s not forget about the idea of brainstorming meetings, project meetings, and the meeting about the meeting.

Communication and Attention Span

Meetings are typically about communication. In fact, I can’t think of a meeting scenario that isn’t involving the need for effective communication. So we might ask ourselves, “How long can we hold the participants attention?”

Interest in the topic will have a lot to do with the attention span. People binge watch a television series on NetFlix for hours and hours, they are captivated by the unfolding plot, episode after episode.

Certainly this might be quite different from a workplace meeting even though you might argue that there is often drama in both.

Conferences, training sessions, and other forms of educational endeavors might continue on for hours, some of this goes back to participant attention and desired outcomes.

Brain Power

Should we consider brain power or cognitive factors? I think this is where the real answer to the question exists. If meeting participants are expected to brainstorm, make good decisions, or come up with solutions for problems then it only makes sense that you want the best from them.

Have you read the book, Willpower? If the concept of the psychology behind willpower interests you at all, this is a great read. I especially enjoyed the chapter, Decision Fatigue.

My synopsis of this chapter is that there are several key factors associated with the ability to make good choices. We might consider things like nutrition, stress, and the amount of choices involved.

People often associate physical activity with the need for fuel (food), but mental activity requires a great deal of energy (fuel) too. This might be justification for having food or snacks at your meeting!