The Leading Edge - Fall 2008 - (Page 11)

operational the Federal Aviation Administration was called to bring together all parties involved in the management of the nation’s airspace. Attendees included business and military flyers, flight attendants, air traffic controllers, pilots, managers, FAA executives and others with a stake in the increasingly crowded skies. “Such a group had not been assembled before to consider new rules for traffic management,” Weisbord explains. “Early in the meeting one of the participants looked around the room and said, ‘Well, we’re all here. If we don’t solve this problem, no one else is going to do it.’ “There’s no way to facilitate an effective meeting if it does not include all relevant parties,” Weisbord says. However, that does not mean an integral person to one part of a meeting should have to sit through the entire gathering. “If someone won’t be needed until 30 minutes into the meeting, have them come in only then and depart when their contribution is over,” Hardy says. Refer to those as “guest appearances,” he adds. what the CEO or other executives say. By writing down the idea, the notes are visible so everyone knows that person has something to share. down to brass tacks When it’s meeting time, Hardy captures the meeting process with a game plan: • Start with reminding the group of the major purpose and concluding objectives. • Assign a referee. Have someone be the time cop and referee. This person gives the two-minute warning when the group is approaching the conclusion of an agenda item and announces the hard stop as well as any scheduled “commercial breaks.” If someone starts to take the conversation down or stray from focus, the referee throws the yellow card to suggest the topic be discussed outside this meeting or be written up and circulated back to the group. • Fight! Fight! Fight! (But fair). Encourage debate, dispute and disagreement. If everyone agrees with everything, you don’t need a meeting. Attack ideas, not people; battle with concepts, not the opposing view’s character. • Post-game wrap-up involves WWW—who, what, when. Every action needs to be 100 percent accountable only by one person with a specific date of delivery. Herold says it can be helpful to go around the room and have each person identify what his or her involvement will be in the next steps—sometimes, he says, you discover that someone is already planning to do work that was never deemed necessary in the meeting. With all the tips and steps to planning, conducting and following up for meetings, the key to long-term success is repetition. By following a disciplined process, people involved know you mean business. “It really should be that simple,” Herold says. e everyone works Terence Noonan, a media strategist at Epic Media Relations and author of Starring You!, says he gives clients “homework” before each meeting so they’re prepared from the start. “I can’t take a meeting where we say ‘let’s meet again to discuss this,’” he says. “Meetings can be such a waste of time. People just want to hear themselves talk.” Backpocket COO’s Herold says meeting planners also should remember while some people love to talk, others may be shy or reticent to share their opinions. His idea? Give everyone a pad of sticky notes—write one idea per note. Then go around and have each person stand up and read one sticky noted idea. “It allows the quiet people to share,” he says. “Start with the newest person first then work up to the top leadership.” That way people don’t just mimic never on the hour Start a meeting at 10:55 a.m.—by not scheduling on the hour or half hour, attendees know the start time is the start time. ThE LEadIng EdgE 11

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of The Leading Edge - Fall 2008

The Leading Edge - Fall 2008 Contents Sculpt Your Business to Survive and Thrive Protect Intellectual Property Outside the United States Complaints about Meetings? The Leading Edge Alliance Top 10 Misconceptions of Doing Business in Belgium In a Nutshell: Q&A

The Leading Edge - Fall 2008

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