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Meetings are a part of our work!

 


I want to take a moment at the beginning of this blog to acknowledge the passing of Simone Joyaux. Simone was a consultant for nonprofits and NGOs. If you never had the opportunity to participate in a workshop led by Simone, I’m sorry. It wasn’t just her extraordinary knowledge that made her impactful, it was her passion for work on justice issues, her impatience with complacency, and her fearlessness in calling out bull**** in our field and beyond.

I don’t know what will become of her website, but I suggest that you make sure to visit it today.  It’s a real treasure trove and a fitting legacy of this remarkable woman.

In addition, you won’t want to miss her candid, helpful tips and how-tos captured for all of us on Bloomerang.

Thank you, Simone for all you added to my work with nonprofits, to our field, and to the lives of those we touch. Rest in power.

And now, for that awkward transition to a topic you probably think about with distain on a regular basis: Meetings.

How many times have you thought or heard, I can't get anything done, I have too many meetings! I chuckle every time­ I hear this and have often reminded colleagues that meetings are a part of our work. Workplace meetings are an important element of business management. Meetings enable you and your colleagues to communicate and share information, solve problems or resolve disputes, improve performance, build teamwork and move projects forward.

If you feel that you are wasting time in staff or program meetings, then it may be how those meetings are run that may be the problem ... not the fact that you are having them.

Management consultant Gonzalo Shoobridge, Ph.D. wrote, "Well-managed work meetings are more than just coordinating people, actions and taking decisions. These are a good occasion to be acknowledged by colleagues. Good meetings provide an opportunity for people at work to get information and align thinking, socialize, enjoy other people’s company, and sometimes, in a good way, can also become an occasion to complain and express frustration."

I agree! Relationships are at the root of getting important work done, and meetings are a tool to both organizing work and building relationships.

There are many resources to help run better meetings. Take time to research them. But, in short, if you are in charge of the meeting:

  1.        Prepare.
  2.          Define a clear goal.
  3.          Select participants.
  4.         Decide the form of the meeting (in person or phone or web conference)
  5.          Set date and start and end time.
  6.        Distribute agenda and provide supporting material in time.*
  7.         Require that everyone is prepared.
  8.        Designate one person to take notes during the meeting.*

*I personally make an exception to this rule for staff meetings. I believe that staff meetings with an agenda created by management often fail to address issues important to staff. Thus, I have staff create the agenda together at the beginning of the meeting and assign one staff member as the meeting facilitator and another as the note taker. The facilitator is responsible for organizing the issues and managing time. The note taker records important decisions/actions/items for future discussion and distributes the notes to their colleagues (or has the appropriate person do so), and then becomes the meeting facilitator at the next meeting. (The staff can choose how the rotation progresses – we often do it alphabetically.) They consult their own notes to bring open items back to the table, and begin the meeting by asking their colleagues for new items. Managers participate along with the staff, but have no discrete leadership role in the meetings. Aside from garnering robust participation, this procedure also gives all staff leadership roles in meeting, no matter what their role is in the organization.

It is also important for participants to plan to “make a good meeting.” What??? Yes, as a participant, each person is responsible for the success of the meeting by:

  1.          Being on time
  2.          Coming prepared
  3.         Listening and paying attention
  4.         Getting to the point with comments and not dominating a conversation
  5.         Being courteous
  6.          Looking to see if anyone wants to join the conversation and invite them to share their thoughts.
  7.         If there has been an interruption, ask the speaker to finish speaking.
  8.          Sharing information with those note present at a meeting.
  9.          Thanking those who led and contributed to a meeting.
Back to my colleague Simone, who recommends developing ground rules for meetings. Here is a starter template she shared:

Ground Rules for Our Meetings 

As an organization – staff, board, committees and task forces – we adhere to the following ground rules for our various meetings. 

1. In this room, at this time, we are all equal. Each of us – regardless of position – will participate. 

2. Each of us will behave according to the organization’s values. 

3. Each of us is mindful of confidentiality and conflict of interest. 

4. We are committed to group process, respect and candor. 

5. We will tap into the wisdom of the group, not focus on the opinions of individuals. 

6. We will question our own assumptions and those of our colleagues in order to think creatively. We will not get stuck on “what we’ve always done” and “what we do today.” 

7. We will listen to each other and suspend judgments. 

8. Our conversation is not about convincing each other but rather about listening to everything and everyone and then deciding what it all means.

9. Each of us will be heard but that doesn’t mean each of us will get what we want. 

10. No single person(s) shall dominate. 

11. It is okay to disagree. When issues are important and people care, they argue. But once we decide, that’s it. Once decisions are made, each of us owns and supports the decisions. 

12. Each of us will accept responsibility for speaking out. Silence is consent. 

13. We agree to focus on the meeting agenda and work hard to stay on track. 

14. We will not start over or repeat if someone is late, leaves early or is unable to attend. 

15. We recognize that the job of a facilitator is hard. 

What do you think? Do ground rules really matter? What is the added value – or not?

How does an organization – and its participants – articulate its ground rules?

And always the big question, how do privilege and power affect ground rules? 

I look forward to hearing your thoughts on this topic.


Barbara, 

Organizations by Design


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