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3.4 | What have you learned from / observed around making your meetings more effective?
Below, you will see the Session #3 reflection questions. Please answer these questions at the bottom of the screen.
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47 Replies
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I love Marc’s articulation of the five qualities found in the Google Aristotle findings. While I’ve been creating psychological safety for my group with deep intention, I’ve thought less about the other qualities (shared meaning; alignment of goals) and will seek to focus on Numbers 2-5 that he shared on 10/15.
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We need a facilitator/time keeper/note taker to keep us on track and document the what, the who & the when. We need to focus more on the 5 areas Marc talked about.
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After session 3 I realized a weak spot in our meetings was holding each other accountable for the actionable items. We end meetings with several items, yet if there is no one specifically charged with moving these forward, some items fall off our radars and don’t get completed. Furthermore, practing meta during the meeting seems to give a lighter energy, the team seems to feel more comfortable with sharing.
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I actually felt after reviewing the recommendations that we do a pretty good job internally for our meetings. I think it could be helpful to categorize meetings as the ‘Depend on Others’ book does to understand a little better the purpose. I generally don’t go to meetings where there is just information sharing because it takes too much time when that content could just be shared in writing.
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An articulated framework for effectiveness (from aligning goals to bolstering connection to discussing what success means) has helped further focus what our regular morning meetings should feel like and accomplish. I find myself thinking about intention, energy, appreciation of time together and talking more openly and confidently about this with the team. Having a North Star has also helped to get people in our organization to start thinking about meetings with similar and aligned awareness and intention.
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I really like the framework (prep, execution, followup). I am trying this now. Somehow I have issues with pressing process down on the teams. I do like it better when they come up with solutions. But I think suggesting this framework has been helpful. It will take discipline and practice.
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We’re pretty great at aligning on goals and knowing what the success metrics are. We can however go down some rabbit holes as can be expected in creative development and any problem solving so it’s important to keep the conversation focused without severing connection with any members of the team. I try to show my gratitude for their input because even if it’s not what we’re going to do at least we know that now. And there comes a time to move on and I try to be kind and clear. Wondering if we might start giving every on a certain amount of time to comment like we do in WC or if that would sacrifice that organic “building” on ideas that happens in open discussion.
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My team recently changed leadership it’s been really interesting to see the ways in which this new person organizes and manages meetings. She’s much better about having a structure and taking notes whether it’s a team meeting or a one-on-one and it’s been interesting to watch how useful I find that. It gives me the sense of actual work is being done and there’s accountability. Most of the meetings that I run our ongoing collaborations with pretty close team members and they don’t have that kind of structure, and I’ve been thinking about how to change our meeting norms when it comes to things like this. In a recent event planning meeting with a variety of new people I did go through all the steps of sending out an agenda ahead of time, of taking notes, and sending a follow-up email outlining specific tasks. And despite all that someone recently asked me if there was anything to do for the event. Ha! I’m still glad I went to the effort and I’ll do it again but there’s definitely an adoption factor on the receiving end.
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Although not currently in a formal organization, working as a contractor, I am exploring new ways to explicitly hold space for myself and others in related professional activities. This is opening up more space for thinking not only about future meetings in traditional organizational structures, but also what kinds of work might be most meaningful, impactful, and mindful to grow toward ~ even if that means working in organizational betweens (so to speak). I am attuning more to the space around the space, attending to conditions that cultivate new or renewed thoughtwork and practice. This calls to mind different exercises that we have done throughout the course, from the introductory self-audit to wisdom circles and more, as these practices grow in and out of each other.
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I end up leading a lot of meetings in non-profits I participate in. I’ve done a recent series of “goal setting” and process design for a group of a dozen people. It requires an immense amount of planning (~5-7 hours for a 45-90 minute meeting) and things usually take longer during the meeting than I expect, but I think we have had good quality outputs and people are engaged and participating.
Planning for each step of an online meeting and thinking about what to do individually, in small breakouts and how to share with the team all requires careful consideration.I dislike having to cut people off, but am recognizing that it is often a gift to the rest of the attendees; I try to position it more as a “Maybe you could give us 30 seconds on….” and that makes it less likely that people will need to be cut off. Clarifying the expectation is good. 🙂
I tried an experiment to shake up the traditional opening to our meeting by encouraging people to come to the Zoom room about 10 minutes early. I’d arranged for a guitarist friend to play a 15-minute concert for us, and people seemed to enjoy it.
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Our initiative of having a fresh and clear agenda, things get done. That is valuable and people feel good about seeing their work evolving along with other team members.
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Our initiative of having a fresh and clear agenda facilitates our efforts towards getting things done. That is valuable and people feel good about seeing their work evolving along with other team members.
At the meetings, each participant has a unique vision of the way they want to do the work in our women’s organization. Therefore we constantly ask open questions and compare their answers to find consensus and clarity. We wish to combine their initiatives effectively.
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That no matter how careful and intentional I think I am being, I still have a long way to go – I then find comfort in remind myself that the path is the goal!
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This has still been a challenge for me, not sure if I am quite there yet, especially because I usually believe that listening to people is a big part of my job, so, sometimes, the meetings became more of a moment to listen to the leader’s problem’s and helping them in finding solutions.
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I’m not currently leading a team. So, the meetings I participate in nowadays I have no autonomy to change. It’s hard to say anything without putting into practice, but I feel that having an agenda and an initial check-in with people in the meeting might be good ways to create effectiveness.
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