"Meetings That Work"

"Meetings That Work"

Beginning in the year 2000 organizations have faced unsettling economic times. Staffs are asked to "do more with less" on a daily basis. Sometimes the less is less people or it can be fewer resources such as lower budgets, fewer supplies or smaller physical office or production space.

With all of this increased pressure on the people to improve their performance the common space to communicate goals, vision, challenges and opportunities is when employees gather for a meeting either in-person or by long distance communication.

During my LeadershipAcademy course the attendee leaders learn that all meetings serve two main purposes:

1. To collect information from the team about challenges and opportunities to performance and
2. To deliver new information and coaching to reduce obstacles and increase performance back on the job.

If the above premise is accepted, that is all meetings need to be both speaking to and listening, from your employees then here are a few suggestions that can improve the amount of honest communication between you and your team.
Suggestion #1- Stop Talking and Start Listening

Ask the employees to write on a post-it note the three main challenges they have in doing their job. Have them write their responses in silence before discussing what they wrote to each other and then to you. You could also ask them to come up with the top three solutions to the problems they just described. Make them put their responses in rank order "what is your number one problem, your number two.

In this way everyone in your meeting will participate because you are not talking and they are writing in silence. By the way, you are also increasing the accountability of your employees because this is their list and not yours. You can then agree or agree to disagree with what they wrote down to each question. Here are a few What questions that have been effective for my clients:

1. What are the 3 top duties or functions of your job?
2. What are the 3 greatest obstacles in performing your job at 100% efficiency?
3. What are the 3 top solutions that would overcome your greatest challenges to performance?
4. What are the 3 top objections/problems that our customers are having with us in the field?
5. What are the top 3 reasons to buy from our company?
6. What are the top 3 reasons to buy from our competition?

The What Question technique will invite increased participation and dialog (not monolog) at future meetings. But beware, you will have created an active and involved team on your hands so be prepared to respond to increased communication and opinions at your future meetings.

Good luck!
Jack is an independent contract trainer and speaker and can be reached at jackwolf@ij.net

Harry, Alan, Frank and Mary Ann