IntroductionWelcome| 00:03 | Hi, I am Dave Crenshaw, and this
is Leading Productive Meetings.
| | 00:08 | Ever participated in a meeting where you felt time
wasn't used wisely, or you would rather be anywhere else?
| | 00:16 | This course guides you on how to get the most
from your meetings, particularly in a group context.
| | 00:21 | First, I will walk you through the principles
of running a productive and effective meeting.
| | 00:27 | I will help you decide the most appropriate
times to hold a meeting and how to prepare for them.
| | 00:33 | I will also give you tips and tricks for
keeping your meetings running smoothly.
| | 00:38 | Lastly, I will guide you through what to do
after the meeting is over, so that all participants
| | 00:44 | take action and follow
through on their commitments.
| | 00:48 | Our goal is to improve the results you receive from your
meetings and to make sure they're a wise use of your time.
| | 00:56 | With these simple strategies, you will have all
the tools you need to lead productive meetings.
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Using the exercise files| 00:00 | If you're a member of the lynda.com
Online Training Library, or if you're
| | 00:05 | watching this course on a DVD-ROM, you
have access to the exercise files used
| | 00:10 | throughout this title.
| | 00:11 | The exercise files can be found in
the folder called exercise files.
| | 00:15 | These files include templates and
guides that I refer to and show in several
| | 00:20 | parts of this course.
| | 00:22 | You may use these or develop your
own based on the information provided.
| | 00:26 | I'm excited to share this with you.
| | 00:28 | Let's get started!
| | Collapse this transcript |
|
|
1. General PrinciplesUnderstanding the principles of successful meetings| 00:00 | There are many principles to having
effective and successful meetings.
| | 00:05 | I've identified six that you can use
to make any meeting more effective.
| | 00:09 | Throughout this course, you'll see
examples of these six principles in action.
| | 00:14 | The first principle is Purpose.
| | 00:16 | Each meeting should have a clear purpose.
| | 00:19 | Unfortunately, many of you have
experienced meetings that were held simply
| | 00:23 | because someone felt it was a
good idea to have a meeting.
| | 00:27 | The Principle of Purpose suggests that
every meeting should have an objective, a
| | 00:32 | reason why you're having the meeting.
| | 00:34 | Before scheduling a meeting and
inviting others to attend, first ask yourself
| | 00:39 | this question: what is the
result I want from this meeting?
| | 00:43 | As we go through this course,
I'll provide guidance on how to make sure every
| | 00:48 | meeting has a purpose.
| | 00:50 | The second principle is Time.
| | 00:52 | In other words, how long should the meeting be?
| | 00:55 | There is no hard-and-fast rule
about how long a meeting should be.
| | 01:00 | However, there is a general principle
that applies to nearly every meeting,
| | 01:05 | and that principle is:
| | 01:06 | the shorter, the better.
| | 01:08 | Time hates a vacuum.
| | 01:10 | Meetings will almost always take as long
or longer than you schedule them to last.
| | 01:17 | Keep your meeting schedule concise and
budget less time than you think is necessary.
| | 01:23 | This will force participants to make
wise decisions about how to use the
| | 01:27 | time during the meeting.
| | 01:29 | As we go through this course, I'll give
you some guidance about how to determine
| | 01:33 | what is an appropriate use
of time for your meetings.
| | 01:38 | The third principle is Agenda.
| | 01:40 | This principle goes hand in
hand with the Principle of Time.
| | 01:44 | An agenda is simply a step-by-step outline
for participants to follow in the meeting.
| | 01:50 | Agendas can help to wrangle
unruly meetings that drift aimlessly.
| | 01:56 | I'll provide suggested agendas
that you can use for your meetings.
| | 01:59 | We'll also discuss ways to use the
agenda so every participant can have a voice
| | 02:05 | in the meeting and participate.
| | 02:07 | The fourth principle is Preparation.
| | 02:10 | Preparation is vital to effective meetings.
| | 02:13 | Prior to attending the meeting every
participant should take a few moments to
| | 02:18 | prepare their questions and
consider how they can serve others.
| | 02:22 | I'll give you easy tips to make
preparation very simple, something that
| | 02:27 | doesn't take more than perhaps a
few minutes but has a big impact on
| | 02:31 | improving meeting effectiveness.
| | 02:33 | The fifth principle is Focus.
| | 02:36 | Focused meetings stay
true to the stated purpose.
| | 02:40 | Focused meeting participants
stay engaged in the meeting.
| | 02:44 | They're listening and
attentive and they avoid multitasking.
| | 02:48 | In this course, I'll provide
tips and tools to help meetings and
| | 02:52 | participants stay focused.
| | 02:54 | And the sixth and final principle is Leadership.
| | 02:58 | Who is in charge of the meeting?
| | 03:00 | The meeting leader may be an executive,
a manager, or a designated meeting
| | 03:06 | facilitator. Regardless of who that
person is or what position they hold, every
| | 03:11 | meeting can benefit from having a leader.
| | 03:14 | The leader's job is to make sure
that the other five effective meeting
| | 03:18 | principles are followed.
| | 03:20 | They help the meeting stay on target,
toward accomplishing the purpose of the meeting.
| | 03:24 | They help make sure that the
meeting begins and ends on time.
| | 03:29 | The leader keeps the meeting on agenda,
and the leader helps others prepare for
| | 03:33 | the meeting and stay focused.
| | 03:36 | In summary, the six principles are
Purpose, Time, Agenda, Preparation,
| | 03:43 | Focus, and Leadership.
| | 03:46 | Everything that I'll share with you in this
course is based upon these six principles.
| | 03:52 | They form the foundation of effective meetings.
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Using technology| 00:00 | Meetings and technology seem to go hand in hand.
| | 00:04 | As technology has advanced, so have the
ways and opportunities that we have to
| | 00:08 | meet with each other.
| | 00:10 | With each advancement in
transportation, telephony, the Internet, or
| | 00:14 | whatever advances come in the future,
we experience new opportunities to connect together.
| | 00:20 | However, each new
advancement also offers challenges.
| | 00:24 | Far too many meetings are stalled or drag on
because of problems with the technology involved.
| | 00:31 | To make your meetings more effective
for you and for the other participants,
| | 00:36 | we've provided a very simple checklist that the
meeting leader can use prior to every meeting.
| | 00:42 | These simple guides will help you
double-check all of your resources and make
| | 00:47 | sure that technology is a helpful
resource and not an aggravating frustration.
| | 00:53 | There are three basic areas
that this checklist covers.
| | 00:57 | The first area deals with telephones,
the second deals with audio/visual, and
| | 01:03 | then finally video, or web conferencing.
| | 01:06 | It's a good practice to use this
checklist approximately one hour prior to each
| | 01:12 | meeting to make sure that every aspect of
technology has been double-checked and is working.
| | 01:18 | A couple of things to keep in
mind as you use this checklist:
| | 01:22 | First, it's designed for small ongoing
meetings that usually occur inside of a
| | 01:27 | company or other organization.
| | 01:30 | This checklist is not designed
for large events or seminars.
| | 01:34 | Also, this checklist is designed to be very generic
and adaptable to a wide variety of situations.
| | 01:42 | So if a few items on the checklist don't
apply to your situation, feel free to ignore them.
| | 01:49 | Also, we've left a few blanks on each
checklist to give you room to add your own
| | 01:55 | items to double-check before a meeting.
| | 01:58 | By taking just a few minutes of
careful preparation for your technical needs,
| | 02:04 | you'll find meetings will go smoother
and technology will do what it's meant to
| | 02:08 | do, which is help meetings to be more effective.
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Meeting virtually (audio and video conferencing)| 00:00 | As technology advances, so
do the methods for meeting.
| | 00:04 | One of the most common uses of
technology for meetings right now is virtual
| | 00:09 | attendance, or webcam.
| | 00:11 | For simplicity, I'll define virtual
attendance as someone using technology to
| | 00:16 | attend without physically being in the room.
| | 00:19 | Often a participant will use an
Internet-based webcam to show their face and see
| | 00:24 | the face of others in attendance.
| | 00:26 | Virtual attendance could also mean
participating via telephone or audio only.
| | 00:32 | Let's start with a comparison of
attending via telephone versus video.
| | 00:37 | Video can be an effective tool for
smaller groups or one-to-one meetings, as
| | 00:43 | it allows people to see facial
expressions and body language, a critical
| | 00:47 | component of communication.
| | 00:49 | However, video works best in
situations with a small number of attendees,
| | 00:54 | around eight or less.
| | 00:57 | In my experience, meetings with many people
attending via video can become very distracting.
| | 01:03 | Also, the more video cameras you add to
a meeting the higher number of technical
| | 01:09 | problems you're likely to have.
| | 01:11 | So generally speaking, if you have a
large number of virtual attendees, I
| | 01:17 | recommend you use telephone
conferencing instead of video conferencing.
| | 01:22 | There are downsides to
telephone attendance though.
| | 01:25 | While it's fairly simple for anyone to
jump right into a meeting via phone, it's
| | 01:31 | hard for each person to have
an opportunity to be heard.
| | 01:35 | There are many great telephone
conferencing options on the market that will
| | 01:39 | allow a leader to see all the
attendees who are on the call,
| | 01:43 | allow the attendees to indicate they
have something to say, and give people an
| | 01:47 | opportunity to be called on one at a time.
| | 01:51 | In any meeting it's the leader's job
to make sure that each person has the
| | 01:57 | opportunity to be heard.
| | 01:59 | In a virtual setting it becomes even
more important for the leader to ensure
| | 02:04 | everyone has a voice.
| | 02:06 | Leaders should be especially aware of
each attendee and if one person has been
| | 02:12 | quiet the entire time. Ask polite,
but direct questions such as, we haven't
| | 02:18 | heard from you for a while,
do you have any comment?
| | 02:21 | Just as an effective classroom
teacher wants to pay more attention to the
| | 02:27 | students that may be hiding in the
back of the classroom, so also should the
| | 02:31 | group leader make sure that all
members of the meeting are participating.
| | 02:37 | One last comment about virtual
attendance, later in the course we'll discuss
| | 02:42 | ground rules, such as being
on time and having an agenda.
| | 02:47 | Any ground rule or system that you use
for face-to-face meetings also applies
| | 02:53 | to virtual attendees.
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Understanding the importance of time management| 00:00 | To me, time management is really about
the management of the individual, how you
| | 00:06 | operate efficiently and effectively.
| | 00:08 | I recommend that each individual
that participates in your meetings also
| | 00:13 | completes the Time Management course.
| | 00:15 | Your effectiveness in time management
will have a great impact on your ability
| | 00:20 | to be prepared for each meeting, pay
attention during the meeting, and more
| | 00:24 | importantly, take action on the
agreements that you make with others during
| | 00:29 | the meetings.
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Deciding between group and one-to-one meetings| 00:00 | This course teaches you how to
effectively hold two types of meetings:
| | 00:05 | meetings with a group of
people and one-to-one meetings.
| | 00:08 | Group meetings are for three or more
people, and one-to-one meetings are for
| | 00:12 | just two people meeting
face to face or through conferencing.
| | 00:16 | Although the principles of effective
meetings remain the same whether you're
| | 00:20 | having a group meeting or a one-to-one
meeting, the specific processes and tools
| | 00:25 | that you use for these
meetings are very different.
| | 00:27 | So it's helpful if you understand the
differences between these two types of meetings.
| | 00:32 | Group meetings are best for
companywide or group-wide development,
| | 00:37 | collaboration, and coordination.
| | 00:40 | They're very effective when you want
to brainstorm with many different people
| | 00:44 | in a focused setting.
| | 00:45 | They're also affected in coordinating
the calendars among many different people,
| | 00:50 | perhaps in a department with a project.
One-to-one meetings, on the other hand,
| | 00:55 | are best used for handling the fine
details of day-to-day work, such as the
| | 01:00 | quick questions that happen
throughout your day when your coworkers call you,
| | 01:05 | email you, or knock on your door.
| | 01:07 | These kinds of questions can be
bundled together and discussed in a regularly
| | 01:12 | scheduled one-to-one meeting.
| | 01:14 | One-to-one meetings are fantastic
opportunities for individuals to be heard and
| | 01:19 | validated on a very personal level.
| | 01:22 | I recommend that businesses use
both group and one-to-one meetings.
| | 01:27 | Typically, group meetings can be held
less often than one-to-one meetings.
| | 01:31 | For example, you might meet weekly on a
one-to-one basis with a coworker who asks
| | 01:37 | you questions, but might meet with
all the members of your department as a
| | 01:41 | group once per month.
| | 01:44 | Both types of meeting serve
a unique and vital purpose.
| | 01:47 | In this course, I will first cover
principles that apply to every type of
| | 01:52 | meeting, especially group meetings,
and then later focus on tips and techniques
| | 01:57 | unique to one-to-one meetings.
| | Collapse this transcript |
|
|
2. Before the MeetingDetermining whether a meeting is necessary| 00:00 | I once coached a client to
help her with her time management.
| | 00:04 | In the course of our training we
analyzed her calendar and realized that meetings
| | 00:09 | were sucking dry nearly
all of her available time.
| | 00:12 | She was so busy in multiple meetings
every day that she had almost no time
| | 00:18 | available to perform any real work.
| | 00:20 | While I would hope that this situation
is unusual, it's becoming more and more
| | 00:25 | common for people in business today.
| | 00:28 | When someone feels that they need to
discuss something, their first thought is
| | 00:33 | often, "Let's hold a meeting.
| | 00:34 | Let's get everyone together."
| | 00:36 | I would propose a different approach.
| | 00:38 | When you feel the need to invite
other people to participate with you in a
| | 00:42 | meeting, first ask the question, can
we take care of this without having a
| | 00:48 | meeting? Or even better, how can we take
care of this without having a meeting?
| | 00:54 | I'm going to give you a few questions
you can ask that may help you discover
| | 00:58 | whether or not the meeting is necessary.
| | 01:01 | The first question to ask is, do we have all
the information that we need for a meeting?
| | 01:09 | Take a moment to consider whether or
not everything you need will be there.
| | 01:13 | If not, schedule a reminder for yourself
to revisit the idea of having a meeting
| | 01:18 | once the necessary information is available.
| | 01:22 | The second question to ask is, do we
need to discuss and collaborate or are we
| | 01:27 | just going to delegate and calendar?
| | 01:30 | What we're trying to avoid is a
situation where 10 people are sitting in
| | 01:33 | the room while a leader delegates tasks
one by one to each of the people in the room.
| | 01:39 | These items can usually be handled
through one-to-one conversations or
| | 01:44 | even through email.
| | 01:45 | The third question is, is it
critical that we're all on the same page?
| | 01:51 | If the answer is no then this may be
better handled with one leader holding many
| | 01:56 | individual conversations.
| | 01:58 | This allows everyone else to
continue working effectively and not have to
| | 02:02 | wait during the meeting.
| | 02:04 | And the fourth and final question is,
| | 02:07 | is this meeting one of our
most valuable activities?
| | 02:12 | Most valuable activities are the
activities that you perform that bring the
| | 02:17 | greatest impact to the
bottom line of the business.
| | 02:21 | If a handful of people could handle
the issues of the meeting while others
| | 02:25 | are out working on activities that
bring the most value to the company then
| | 02:30 | find a way to excuse them.
| | 02:32 | They could always be caught up on the
meeting through summary notes or an email later.
| | 02:37 | There is no hard-and-fast rule about
when you should or should not meet.
| | 02:42 | However, by asking these four
questions you'll avoid many of the unnecessary
| | 02:48 | meetings that take place.
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Scheduling the meeting| 00:00 | The best way to have a group
meeting is on a recurring schedule.
| | 00:04 | There are four considerations when
it comes to scheduling group meetings:
| | 00:08 | frequency, rhythm, technology, and reminders.
| | 00:12 | First let's talk about frequency.
| | 00:14 | Frequency simply refers to how often you
should meet and how long the meeting should be.
| | 00:20 | As a general rule, the more often you
meet the shorter the meeting should be.
| | 00:25 | Conversely, the less often you meet
the longer the meeting should be.
| | 00:29 | For example, if we have one meeting
per month as a company then that meeting
| | 00:35 | maybe 50 or even 80 minutes long.
| | 00:38 | If, however, you feel it's necessary to
have a meeting once per week then that
| | 00:42 | meeting should be much
shorter, perhaps 25 minutes long.
| | 00:47 | Second let's consider the rhythm,
specifically the rhythm of the business.
| | 00:52 | Every business has a unique rhythm to
it, times and days when you're more likely
| | 00:57 | to be interrupted or where the
workload is going to be the heaviest.
| | 01:01 | For example, consider a sales
department. There are key times of the week when
| | 01:06 | sales rep should be out
making contacts and transactions.
| | 01:10 | Consider the times when you're least
likely to be interrupted and when there
| | 01:13 | aren't other important
things that should be taking place.
| | 01:17 | The third consideration is technology,
| | 01:19 | in particular the technology that
you use to schedule the meeting.
| | 01:24 | There are many fantastic tools
available to help with scheduling meetings.
| | 01:29 | They can help you see the schedules of
every person that you're inviting to the
| | 01:32 | meeting, that allow you to suggest
multiple times to multiple people, and will
| | 01:37 | even handle the coronation for you.
| | 01:39 | When it comes to finding a time to
meet as a group, whether it's recurring or
| | 01:44 | just one time, use one of these
technology tools. Let the technology do the work
| | 01:50 | for you. It will save you hours of
frustration and a lack of focus.
| | 01:54 | And finally, when scheduling a meeting
consider how reminders will be sent out.
| | 02:01 | By sending reminders you make it easy
for people to keep the date and time.
| | 02:06 | You give them a moment to remember
the meeting and recommit to attend.
| | 02:11 | I recommend two kinds of reminders.
First, use automatic computer reminders.
| | 02:17 | All calendaring programs have the
opportunity to create a reminder for yourself
| | 02:21 | when scheduling a meeting.
| | 02:23 | I recommend that you use that feature.
Set a reminder as far off before the
| | 02:28 | meeting as you feel is necessary and
if you're scheduling with other people,
| | 02:32 | encourage them to do the same.
| | 02:35 | The second type is the personal reminder.
The easiest way to remind others is through email.
| | 02:41 | For example, you can have one member
of the team assigned the responsibility
| | 02:45 | of sending a brief email to everyone
reminding them of the meeting time and location.
| | 02:51 | Consider the frequency, rhythm,
technology, and reminders when scheduling your
| | 02:56 | group meetings and you'll make
the best use of your meeting time.
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Establishing ground rules| 00:00 | Ground rules are an effective tool to
help you get the most from your meetings.
| | 00:05 | Ground rules allow every participant
to know the established conduct and
| | 00:09 | culture of your meetings.
| | 00:11 | I'd like to suggest several ground
rules you can use for your meetings.
| | 00:15 | The first ground rule is the most
critical and it is, no multitasking during
| | 00:21 | meetings. Not only will multitasking
make meetings slower, increase mistakes, and
| | 00:27 | raise stress levels;
| | 00:28 | it'll also cause other
participants to feel they aren't valued.
| | 00:33 | As a group, commit to being 100%
focused on the meeting and not performing any
| | 00:40 | other tasks during the scheduled time.
| | 00:43 | The second ground rule builds on the first
and it is, used only an agreed upon technology.
| | 00:50 | Can people take notes on cell phones?
Can they take notes on laptops? Is any
| | 00:56 | technology permitted? Not surprisingly,
this is a somewhat controversial subject.
| | 01:01 | Some companies find that they have to
remove technology completely from the
| | 01:06 | meeting. There's no right or wrong answer though.
| | 01:09 | Find a guideline that works for the group,
so that everyone's expectations are the same.
| | 01:15 | The next suggested ground rule is, one person
speaks at a time and everyone else listens.
| | 01:23 | This means that while someone else
is expressing their opinion we sit
| | 01:27 | respectfully, listen thoughtfully,
and allow others to complete their sentence
| | 01:32 | without finishing what they're saying.
| | 01:34 | It's a simple rule, yet I'd
offer one word of caution.
| | 01:37 | Often I find the most common violator
of his rule is the meeting leader.
| | 01:43 | They sometimes feel that that is their
prerogative to jump in and interrupt what
| | 01:48 | other people are saying.
| | 01:50 | The leader should take care to set
an example for this and any other
| | 01:54 | ground rules you adopt.
| | 01:56 | The fourth suggested ground
rule is, speak openly without fear.
| | 02:01 | Meetings are most productive when
they're conducted in a safe environment, where
| | 02:06 | people feel that they can express their
opinion even if sometimes those opinions
| | 02:11 | are controversial or unpopular.
| | 02:13 | By establishing a ground rule that says
we can speak openly without fear, you'll
| | 02:18 | get the best results.
| | 02:20 | And the fifth and final rule I suggest
is simply begin on time and end on time.
| | 02:27 | If everyone is committed to this,
participants will be more respectful of the
| | 02:32 | time of others, and people
will enjoy the meeting more.
| | 02:35 | As a group, decide which rules you want
to adopt and then formalize them in a
| | 02:41 | written document afterward.
| | 02:42 | Of course over time you may add
ground rules to the list or adapt them to
| | 02:48 | your situation.
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Determining who is in charge| 00:00 | In order for your meetings to move
smoothly, get results, and help everyone feel
| | 00:05 | respected, you'll want to have a meeting leader.
| | 00:08 | It's your choice what to call the
leader: a coach, a mentor, president,
| | 00:12 | facilitator, whatever
title you feel is appropriate.
| | 00:15 | I'll simply refer to this
person as the meeting leader.
| | 00:19 | It's the leader's responsibility to
make sure that everyone follows the agenda
| | 00:23 | and that the ground rules are respected.
| | 00:26 | They also act as the
timekeeper during the meeting.
| | 00:29 | There are a few different ways
to choose the meeting leader.
| | 00:33 | The first and most obvious method is
based on position, meaning that whoever is
| | 00:38 | the highest position in the room,
whether that's the manager, CEO, project
| | 00:42 | leader, or executive, is the meeting leader.
| | 00:45 | The advantage of this method is that
there's already an established structure of
| | 00:50 | reporting and accountability.
| | 00:52 | Also, this method gives the
leader a direct opportunity to provide
| | 00:55 | development to the group.
| | 00:57 | The disadvantages of this method are
that it may not develop leadership in other
| | 01:02 | members of the group.
| | 01:03 | Also, sometimes having the highest
position as meeting leader may leave other
| | 01:09 | people feeling that the meeting is
always controlled or dominated by one person.
| | 01:14 | The second option for choosing
the meeting leader is by rotation.
| | 01:19 | This means that the meeting
leader is different every time.
| | 01:23 | Any kind of rotation will work, provided it
gives each member the opportunity to lead.
| | 01:29 | The advantages to this method is that
it gives attendees who aren't normally
| | 01:32 | in leadership positions the opportunity to
grow and practice leadership in small ways.
| | 01:38 | Additionally, if each member of the
group has the opportunity to hold others
| | 01:43 | accountable to the ground rules,
it often increases their own personal
| | 01:47 | commitment to those rules.
| | 01:49 | And finally, there is a feeling of
satisfaction that most people get when they
| | 01:53 | have the opportunity to lead.
| | 01:56 | The disadvantages are that occasionally
a leader selected by rotation may not be
| | 02:01 | committed to the ground rules,
causing meetings to stray.
| | 02:05 | You may also have people who don't
want to lead, perhaps because it's contrary
| | 02:10 | to their personality.
| | 02:11 | Also, a temporary group leader may
not be as prepared as someone who's
| | 02:16 | consistently used to leadership.
| | 02:19 | And finally, in a group meeting people
may have the tendency to still look at the
| | 02:23 | person that is normally the leader
outside of the group meeting as the person
| | 02:27 | in charge anyway, leaving a leader
by rotation in an awkward situation.
| | 02:33 | Some may feel that there is a third option,
that is, to have no leader for the meeting.
| | 02:39 | This happens often by accident
and usually leads to chaotic,
| | 02:43 | unproductive meetings.
| | 02:45 | Also, occasionally people are
reluctant to take charge of a meeting due
| | 02:50 | to social pressure.
| | 02:52 | They feel that having a leader for
the meeting diminishes the role of
| | 02:55 | everyone else in the room.
| | 02:57 | My philosophy on leadership, in any
situation, including meetings, is that the
| | 03:02 | leader is the servant.
| | 03:05 | Think of the leader as
the helper for the meeting.
| | 03:07 | It's their job to help
the meeting be successful.
| | 03:11 | Take a moment, either right now or at
the beginning of your next meeting, and
| | 03:15 | determine what method you'll use to
make sure that every meeting has a leader.
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Having an agenda| 00:00 | We've provided a suggested agenda
that you can use for your meetings.
| | 00:04 | You're welcome to adapt this agenda or
create your own version for your needs,
| | 00:09 | but if you want to get going quickly,
you can use this agenda exactly as is.
| | 00:13 | I'm going to briefly talk
about each of the elements.
| | 00:16 | First, on the left-hand side of the
agenda you'll see a list of important
| | 00:21 | milestones to keep in mind
while you're having your meeting.
| | 00:24 | This isn't the step-by-step portion of
the agenda, but rather, the principles to
| | 00:29 | keep in mind for the meeting.
| | 00:30 | Of all the principles listed, the most important
one is the what, the vision or the end result?
| | 00:37 | You're welcome to adapt this vision as written.
| | 00:40 | My suggested vision is, at the end of
each meeting all participants will feel
| | 00:45 | respected, valued, and have
clarity about future action steps.
| | 00:49 | Each person will grow to trust each
other more, and the group as a whole will
| | 00:54 | move closer toward completing its objectives.
| | 00:58 | Now, let's talk about the
agenda steps themselves, the how.
| | 01:02 | How should the meeting take place?
| | 01:04 | The first step is to begin on time.
Second, the leader welcomes everyone.
| | 01:10 | The leader should help attendees feel welcome
and comfortable when they come to the meeting.
| | 01:16 | Third, there should be a brief
development presentation, taught either by the
| | 01:20 | leader or by someone that
the leader has designated.
| | 01:23 | This development should only be about
3 to 5 minutes and should either
| | 01:28 | apply to a system that people within
the company should begin implementing or
| | 01:33 | provide development on some essential
skill that applies to every attendee.
| | 01:38 | Step four of the group meeting agenda
is to have each person quickly report on
| | 01:43 | commitments they made in the last meeting.
| | 01:46 | This is simply asking each person one
by one whether or not they did it.
| | 01:52 | Each person responds with a yes or no.
| | 01:55 | Next, you'll take the remaining time
available minus 5 minutes and divide it
| | 02:00 | equally among the members.
| | 02:01 | So if there are 30 minutes remaining
and there are 5 participants, then each
| | 02:06 | person will have 5 minutes to speak.
| | 02:09 | During that time each attendee will go
through a list that they prepared and
| | 02:13 | brought to the meeting. Then, as needed,
attendees will make commitments to help
| | 02:18 | the other members of the group.
| | 02:21 | During the final 5 minutes the
leader or the note taker reviews and
| | 02:25 | summarizes each person's commitments
that they made during the meeting.
| | 02:29 | Then they'll also reconfirm the
date and time of the next meeting.
| | 02:34 | The final step of the agenda
is to end on time, or early.
| | 02:38 | The agenda is very simple: It's in following
the agenda where the challenge comes.
| | 02:44 | In the next videos I'll break down each part of
the agenda to help make your meetings successful.
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Preparing development| 00:00 | A part of both one-to-one and
group meetings is to provide some brief
| | 00:05 | development to the group.
| | 00:07 | Some people call this
training, teaching, or motivation.
| | 00:10 | In this course, we'll simply
refer to it as development.
| | 00:14 | We don't want to spend a great deal
of time on this portion of the meeting,
| | 00:18 | but a brief development helps
everyone get on the same page and helps them
| | 00:23 | further their skills.
| | 00:25 | If you're the meeting leader, keep
in mind you may not necessarily be the
| | 00:29 | one that needs to teach the
development every time; in fact, it's probably a
| | 00:33 | good idea to allow others in the group to
take a hand at teaching some brief development.
| | 00:39 | If someone else's teaching, I'd suggest
you have them watch this video and the
| | 00:43 | video about teaching development.
| | 00:46 | In a brief video like this it's
impossible for me to teach you everything there
| | 00:50 | is to learn about preparing development,
| | 00:52 | so I'm going to give you the single
biggest shortcut that I've learned
| | 00:56 | in preparing a lesson.
| | 00:58 | Take a piece of paper and draw a line
down the middle of it. Then at the top of
| | 01:03 | the left-hand side write the word "what"
and at the top of the right-hand side
| | 01:08 | write the word "how."
| | 01:10 | Preparing development is simply a
matter of balance between what, meaning the
| | 01:14 | skill or system that you're teaching
and how, the method that you use to
| | 01:19 | teach it to people.
| | 01:21 | If you have too much what, meaning you
attempt to cover too many concepts, then
| | 01:25 | your listeners will be
overwhelmed with information.
| | 01:28 | Too much how, meaning use too many
methods of sharing your principal, and pretty
| | 01:33 | soon people just get lost in the
method and miss out on the message.
| | 01:39 | First decide on the what.
| | 01:41 | There are two options
for deciding what to teach.
| | 01:44 | The first is to provide development on
a new system that should be implemented.
| | 01:49 | The second is, provide development on some
essential skill universal to all the members.
| | 01:55 | In a three-to-five minute development
you're only going to have time for one
| | 02:00 | simple concept, so choose carefully.
| | 02:03 | After you've decided on the what,
you can determine the how, the method you'll
| | 02:08 | use to teach the concept.
| | 02:10 | To help with the how, I'll give you
three basic techniques that are very
| | 02:15 | effective for development in a group meeting.
| | 02:18 | The first and perhaps
easiest is to share a story.
| | 02:22 | Stories are very simple and effective
because they invite your listeners to
| | 02:27 | imagine things that are taking place.
| | 02:30 | A simple story can often illustrate
your point better than if you just directly
| | 02:35 | tell someone what to do.
| | 02:37 | The best stories are true stories,
particularly of things that happen in the
| | 02:41 | workplace, experiences with
customers or even from your career.
| | 02:45 | This second method of teaching a
group deals with group participation.
| | 02:51 | The greatest teachers try not to do
all the talking but instead invite their
| | 02:56 | listeners to participate in what's taking place.
| | 02:59 | Simple examples include turn to the
person next to you and share one positive
| | 03:04 | experience you've had with the customer,
or make a group of three people and in
| | 03:10 | 60 seconds agree on the two best words
to describe excellent customer service.
| | 03:16 | By inviting group members to take action,
you'll quickly and simply move your
| | 03:21 | development from a dull
lecture to energetic involvement.
| | 03:26 | Give specific amounts of time for
people to perform activities; otherwise group
| | 03:32 | discussions can sometimes
take much longer than you intend.
| | 03:36 | The third method of development is to
work together as a group to solve a problem.
| | 03:41 | This encourages participation and
questions. Simply state the problem and then
| | 03:47 | ask group members for
suggestions for improvement.
| | 03:49 | For instance, you can ask our delivery
shipments are often late, what suggestions
| | 03:55 | could you make to help improve this?
| | 03:57 | This method is especially effective in
a group because it gets buy-in from all
| | 04:02 | the members and provides
perspective from multiple people.
| | 04:07 | Again, be cautious of the amount of time
that you take and keep the comments brief.
| | 04:13 | In summary, first decide what
concept you will teach and then decide how
| | 04:19 | you're going to teach it, either using stories,
group participation, or group problem solving.
| | 04:25 | In a future video I'll provide
tips on teaching what you prepared.
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Coming prepared| 00:00 | You can help make the meeting effective for
both yourself and others by coming prepared.
| | 00:06 | Coming prepared means more than just
arriving at the meeting, listening, and
| | 00:10 | occasionally talking.
| | 00:12 | I'll give you a brief checklist to
help you be prepared for your meetings.
| | 00:17 | First, use a meeting task list.
| | 00:20 | If you've completed the Time Management
Fundamentals course on lynda.com, you'll
| | 00:25 | be familiar with using a
task list for processed items.
| | 00:28 | You can also create a list for
each meeting that you participate in.
| | 00:32 | For instance, any time that you have a
task or idea that you need to discuss in a
| | 00:39 | group meeting, put that
idea in a group task list,
| | 00:44 | for example group: Project Managers Meeting.
| | 00:47 | Create similar lists for all the
groups and one-to-one meetings that you
| | 00:52 | participate in regularly.
| | 00:54 | When you come to the meeting bring
that list, either via your laptop, a mobile
| | 01:00 | device, or even a printed list.
| | 01:02 | This will help you be prepared with
minimal review prior to the meeting.
| | 01:08 | This will also save time for all
participants, so that they don't need to wait
| | 01:12 | while others gather their
thoughts as to what they need to discuss.
| | 01:17 | Each member can just open up their list and go.
| | 01:20 | The second way to prepare is to bring
any action items that you committed to
| | 01:25 | complete in the previous meeting.
| | 01:28 | Every meeting you're likely to have
one or more things that you committed to
| | 01:33 | others that you would complete.
| | 01:35 | Make sure you're prepared to report
back to the group on your commitments.
| | 01:40 | The third way to be prepared is to
bring development materials if necessary.
| | 01:45 | In most cases only the leader or
development presenter will need to bring
| | 01:49 | development materials.
| | 01:51 | Occasionally the presenter will have
emailed or handed out documents and asked
| | 01:56 | people to bring these in advance
for the development presentation.
| | 02:01 | If that's the case, just make sure that
you have all the materials that you need.
| | 02:06 | Next, you'll need to
bring your personal calendar.
| | 02:09 | Many times people will come to a
meeting and find themselves unable to
| | 02:14 | schedule things or commit to accomplishing
things without being able to look at their calendar,
| | 02:19 | so make sure that you
have your calendar at hand.
| | 02:22 | It's your time budget and it will let you
know how much time you have available
| | 02:27 | to make commitments.
| | 02:29 | Finally, bring a
gathering point for taking notes.
| | 02:33 | A gathering point is a predetermined place
where you put all the notes from your meeting.
| | 02:39 | Typically in a meeting setting it's
going to be a notepad, or perhaps a method
| | 02:44 | where you electronically send notes to yourself.
| | 02:47 | Use this five-point checklist to
arrive prepared for your meetings.
| | 02:52 | With just a few minutes of preparation
prior to the meeting, you can attend feeling
| | 02:56 | confident that you'll be
able to participate fully.
| | Collapse this transcript |
|
|
3. During the MeetingBudgeting time| 00:00 | The first step on the
agenda is to begin on time.
| | 00:04 | I view time like a budget.
| | 00:06 | Stay within your time budget and you
will be more productive and relaxed.
| | 00:10 | Exceed your time budget and you will
be unproductive and have more stress.
| | 00:14 | It's the meeting leader's
responsibility to make sure that the group
| | 00:18 | stays within the budget.
| | 00:20 | The agenda we provided is fairly
straightforward on suggestions for
| | 00:24 | dividing your meeting time.
| | 00:26 | When it comes to the development
presentation, ensure that it's brief, five
| | 00:30 | minutes at the most.
| | 00:32 | This will require you to be well
prepared, and this course will include some
| | 00:36 | quick and easy tips to help you
prepare and teach the development.
| | 00:41 | Next, when each person reports on the
commitments they made in the last meeting,
| | 00:45 | be as brief as possible.
| | 00:47 | Keep the reporting to under five minutes.
| | 00:51 | The most fluid portion of your time
budget deals with how much time each
| | 00:55 | attendee has to be heard.
| | 00:57 | For example, let's say that you have
a 60-minute meeting that ends at 11
| | 01:02 | o'clock, and you complete the
development and reporting by 10:15, so there are
| | 01:07 | 45 minutes remaining.
| | 01:09 | Subtract five minutes from that to
leave time for wrap up at the end.
| | 01:13 | This leaves 40 minutes.
| | 01:15 | If you have five participants in the
meeting, including the meeting leader,
| | 01:19 | divide 40 by 5, and you end up
with 8 minutes for each attendee.
| | 01:25 | Then the meeting leader should set up a
timer, so that each person knows exactly
| | 01:31 | how much time they have.
| | 01:32 | Let the timer be the enforcer of the time
budget rather than you as the individual.
| | 01:38 | People are much more comfortable with
the clock beeping at them than with the
| | 01:42 | leader saying, "It's time for you to stop talking."
| | 01:45 | Using our example, we have
set the timer for 8 minutes.
| | 01:49 | Then immediately begin with the first attendee.
| | 01:52 | The leader can listen attentively to each
person and occasionally glance at the clock.
| | 01:58 | I recommend that you give each person a
brief reminder one minute before the time is up.
| | 02:04 | In the beginning, people may be a little
uncomfortable with the concept of being
| | 02:08 | so careful with the clock.
| | 02:10 | They may feel it restrictive.
| | 02:12 | Typically though, by the third or
fourth meeting conducted this way, people
| | 02:17 | understand and they respect the clock.
| | 02:19 | They understand that it not only helps them
be heard, but the people around them as well.
| | 02:24 | Stick with the time budget and you'll
find that meetings become a much more
| | 02:29 | effective use of your time.
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Taking minutes| 00:00 | Ever heard of the concept of
taking minutes in the meeting?
| | 00:04 | The idea is that one person acts as a
scribe and summarizes comments and
| | 00:09 | points covered in the meeting.
| | 00:10 | To some this may seem like an outdated
or unnecessary concept, yet I've found that
| | 00:16 | this can be a very effective tool to
make sure that everyone is on the same page,
| | 00:21 | both during and after the meeting.
| | 00:23 | First, you'll want to
designate someone as the note taker.
| | 00:27 | You can rotate this responsibility;
| | 00:29 | however, I've found that there are
some people best suited for this.
| | 00:34 | These individuals usually have a high attention
to detail, and they're very fast note takers.
| | 00:39 | However, you decide to do it,
I'd recommend that the meeting leader chooses one
| | 00:44 | person to be the note taker for each meeting.
| | 00:47 | Next, to make the task simple for
that note taker, we've provided an
| | 00:51 | outline of how to take notes.
| | 00:53 | Use this outline as is or
adapt to your situation.
| | 00:57 | At the top of the form you'll find
places to indicate the leader, the note taker,
| | 01:03 | and the date and time of the meeting.
| | 01:05 | When it comes to the note taking itself,
I recommend that the note taker focuses
| | 01:10 | notes on actions rather than
trying to cover each word a person says.
| | 01:16 | Listen for and take notes about doing,
changing, and making things happen, both
| | 01:22 | inside and outside the group.
| | 01:23 | For example, when summarizing the
development portion of the meeting, you might
| | 01:29 | write one sentence about what the
development was and then add one or two bullet
| | 01:33 | points about actions that
you can take as a result.
| | 01:37 | When taking notes, make bullet
points of the commitments people make.
| | 01:41 | For instance, if during the meeting I
commit to Bonnie that I'm going to deliver
| | 01:46 | a document to her next Tuesday, then
make a note "Dave will deliver the document
| | 01:51 | to Bonnie by next Tuesday."
| | 01:53 | You'll use these notes in two ways.
At the end of the meeting you'll summarize
| | 01:58 | the notes to help with making sure that
each person knows their commitments from
| | 02:02 | the meeting. Then after the meeting
the note taker can send an email with the
| | 02:08 | notes to everyone who was in attendance,
or even was absent. That way everyone has
| | 02:14 | a chance to review again what was
covered, and if anyone missed the meeting, they
| | 02:18 | can also feel like they caught the
key points of what was discussed.
| | 02:23 | Keep note taking as simple as
possible. The end result we want is to help
| | 02:28 | people follow through on their commitments and
strengthen the communication between attendees.
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Opening| 00:00 | How you open the meeting is very
important, as it has a great impact on the
| | 00:05 | overall effectiveness of the meeting.
| | 00:07 | Everybody has the responsibility to
open the meeting on a positive note;
| | 00:11 | however, the greatest
responsibility does rest with the meeting leader,
| | 00:15 | so I'll focus my training in
this video with the leader in mind.
| | 00:20 | There are five steps that you can
take to open meetings positively.
| | 00:24 | Number one is arrive early. Because
part of the agenda is to start the meeting
| | 00:29 | on time, you want to arrive
well in advance of the meeting,
| | 00:34 | I would say at least five minutes in advance
and ready to go the moment everyone arrives.
| | 00:40 | The second step is to eliminate
distractions. If you have a computer monitor
| | 00:44 | that's on and may distract you, turn it off.
| | 00:48 | If there's music playing, turn it off.
If your meeting area is not as tidy as it
| | 00:53 | could be, take a few moments to clean
up and arrange the chairs. Make sure that
| | 00:58 | any trash is put away.
| | 01:00 | Any distraction to one of the five senses
can get in the way of an effective meeting.
| | 01:06 | Take a moment and make sure that
anything distracting has been put away, so that
| | 01:11 | you can focus 100% on the meeting.
| | 01:14 | The third step is to
greet people when they arrive.
| | 01:18 | Ever had the experience of going to a
meeting where the leader is working on
| | 01:21 | their computer when you walk
in? What a missed opportunity!
| | 01:25 | Instead establish a positive tone for
your meeting by being ready to greet
| | 01:30 | people warmly and personally
before the meeting gets started.
| | 01:34 | The fourth step deals with how
you set the tone for the meeting.
| | 01:39 | As the leader, the first words that
you say and how you say them will set the
| | 01:45 | tone for everything else that takes place.
| | 01:47 | Be positive. Share some good news.
| | 01:50 | For example, you could begin by
saying, "I just want to start by sharing some
| | 01:56 | great feedback I got from a client
yesterday. He sent me an email and said that
| | 02:00 | Janet went above and beyond for them
last week, and they love working with us."
| | 02:05 | The final step is to take just a brief
moment and talk about the purpose of the meeting.
| | 02:11 | Go through the ground rules again or read the
company vision, values, or mission statement.
| | 02:16 | Whatever the purpose of your group
meeting is, take a moment to remind all the
| | 02:21 | participants of that purpose.
| | 02:23 | Use these five quick steps and you'll
start the meetings on a positive note and
| | 02:28 | get everybody ready to
participate and take action.
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Presenting the development| 00:00 | In the previous video I showed you how
to prepare a brief three-to-five minute
| | 00:05 | development presentation for the meeting.
| | 00:07 | Now it's time to teach what you prepared.
| | 00:10 | So I'd like to give you a few
suggestions to help that be as effective as
| | 00:14 | possible. Even if you don't feel that
teaching or training other people is
| | 00:18 | your greatest strength, every person can be a
teacher in their own way and can help others grow.
| | 00:24 | The first tip that I would give you
is, grab their attention. No matter how
| | 00:29 | prepared the lesson, begin with
something that's positive, interesting and
| | 00:34 | perhaps a little bit out of the ordinary. Why?
| | 00:38 | Well, typically when someone comes into
the meeting their attention is all over
| | 00:43 | the place. You can think of it in
terms of them looking up and down, to the
| | 00:47 | sides, all over the place.
| | 00:49 | They may be thinking about what they
were just working on, things that are going
| | 00:53 | on in their personal life, or the
game that they saw on TV last night.
| | 00:58 | You want something that
pulls their attention toward you.
| | 01:01 | Not only will this help you be better
able to teach, but it will also help them
| | 01:05 | be prepared for an effective meeting.
So do something this attention grabbing.
| | 01:11 | The easiest way to do that is
to use some sort of visual aid.
| | 01:15 | Simply hold up a picture or some object that
relates to the lesson that you're teaching.
| | 01:20 | The second tip is to
speak as little as possible.
| | 01:25 | One way to think about this is imagine
the phrase "their words" in big letters and
| | 01:31 | imagine the phrase "my words" in small letters.
| | 01:35 | This means the things they say matter
more than what you say. Give attendees an
| | 01:41 | opportunity to be heard, to speak, and to
participate, and certainly when they're
| | 01:46 | speaking he respectful of their
comments and pay full attention to them.
| | 01:51 | The third tip relates to the second, and that
is, allow attendees to discover for themselves.
| | 01:58 | This is why in the video on how to
prepare your development I gave you the
| | 02:02 | how method of group discussion. Compare
these two differences in teaching something.
| | 02:08 | Method one, I tell the attendees,
"We need to listen to our customers."
| | 02:14 | Method two, I ask attendees, "How can we do
a better job of listening to our customers?"
| | 02:22 | By asking a question rather than giving
a solution, you'll help attendees learn
| | 02:27 | and internalize more.
| | 02:29 | The greatest teachers I've seen ask
students questions and give them time to
| | 02:34 | think about their answers and respond
rather than dominating the discussion by
| | 02:39 | doing all the talking.
| | 02:41 | The final tip is, keep it brief. At most
you should spend five minutes. Stay within
| | 02:47 | that time. The attendees know the agenda,
and they know the maximum amount of time
| | 02:52 | that you have to teach.
| | 02:54 | Every word that you say beyond that
time diminishes what you said before.
| | 03:00 | So when you reach the end of your
allotted time, no matter where you are, just
| | 03:05 | stop, finish your sentence,
and allow the meeting to continue.
| | 03:09 | By doing that you will gain the
respect of those that you teach because you
| | 03:13 | demonstrated that you respect their time.
| | 03:16 | So in summary, when teaching your
development: first, grab their attention;
| | 03:22 | second, speak as little as possible;
third, let them discover for themselves; and
| | 03:28 | forth, keep it brief.
| | 03:30 | By teaching this way, you make it easier
for the attendees to feel involved and
| | 03:36 | committed to take action.
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Following up on commitments| 00:00 | After the development portion is
complete, it's time to report on commitments.
| | 00:05 | If you're following the agenda we've
provided, attendees will have committed to
| | 00:09 | action items at the
conclusion of the previous meeting.
| | 00:12 | We now want to receive reports on the
status of commitments from all attendees.
| | 00:17 | This process is actually very simple.
| | 00:20 | The leader using the minutes from
the previous meeting reads through the
| | 00:24 | commitments each person made
and asks simply, did you do this?
| | 00:28 | If the answer is yes, then the leader
can say something briefly, like "good job"
| | 00:33 | or "thank you," but what if the answer is no?
| | 00:37 | The leader should then ask something
like, "what got in the way of completing that?"
| | 00:43 | or "what obstacle did you encounter?"
| | 00:46 | This is much more effective than asking a
"why" question such as "why didn't you do this?"
| | 00:52 | Why is a very strong word and often
carries with it the assumption of personal blame.
| | 00:58 | By substituting what stood in the
way for why, you are leaving open the
| | 01:03 | possibility to many different reasons
that could have kept the person from
| | 01:07 | completing their assigned task.
| | 01:10 | The leader should not respond
with anything further at this time.
| | 01:13 | We just want a brief explanation
of what prevented the attendee from
| | 01:17 | completing the commitment.
| | 01:19 | If this explanation generates a topic
that the group or the leader wishes to
| | 01:23 | discuss further, then add it to the
task list to be discussed at a later time.
| | 01:29 | Regardless of their responses, finish
with brief, specific, and sincere praise.
| | 01:35 | By always giving brief sincere praise,
you become someone that's a trusted
| | 01:39 | resource, rather than a demanding taskmaster.
| | 01:43 | People will welcome you insight and become
more forthcoming about errors when they happen.
| | 01:48 | One last comment for managers: if you
notice a pattern of someone not completing
| | 01:54 | their commitments, you'll likely
want to follow up with that person in a
| | 01:57 | one-to-one meeting, not in a group meeting.
| | 02:00 | The one-to-one meeting is a great
time for a manager to assist employees in
| | 02:05 | following through on commitments or deal
with deeper personal issues that may be
| | 02:10 | influencing their lack of follow-through.
| | 02:13 | Keep the meeting moving along
and focused on actions and results.
| | 02:18 | By taking this approach, you'll
ensure commitments are completed and
| | 02:22 | meetings are productive.
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Giving everyone a voice| 00:00 | One of the most important and
occasionally challenging aspects of holding a
| | 00:05 | group meeting is making sure that
everyone has a voice, that every attendee has
| | 00:11 | the opportunity to participate and be involved.
| | 00:14 | In the video on budgeting time within a
meeting I showed you how you can divide
| | 00:19 | the remaining time evenly between the attendees.
| | 00:23 | Once attendees begin speaking, it's
the meeting leader's responsibility to
| | 00:27 | ensure that everyone else
is attentive and listening.
| | 00:31 | If one attendee is speaking out of
turn when it's another attendee's time to
| | 00:36 | speak, the leader should
gently suggest that they listen.
| | 00:40 | An easy way to do that without
calling out someone in particular by name is
| | 00:45 | saying "let's give Susan our full attention."
| | 00:48 | Usually, just by saying that it's
enough to help attendees stop whatever
| | 00:53 | side conversations or activities that may
have drifted into the course of the meeting.
| | 00:59 | It's also the leader's responsibility to
make sure that the person uses only the
| | 01:05 | amount of time allotted to them.
| | 01:08 | On the other hand, each attendee has
the responsibility to be prepared and to
| | 01:12 | use their time wisely. That's why prior
to the meeting every participant should
| | 01:17 | bring their group task list, the
list of things that they want to discuss
| | 01:23 | during that meeting.
| | 01:24 | If, as the person speaking, you find
that you have a long list, you're going to
| | 01:29 | need to move very quickly through that
list--either that or you may need to have
| | 01:34 | a separate conversation with each person.
| | 01:37 | Try to keep your comments to items
that applied to the group as a whole.
| | 01:42 | You don't necessarily need to cover
every item in the group meeting, only those
| | 01:47 | things where collaboration or
coordination with the group is necessary.
| | 01:52 | You can have private, one-on-one
conversations, or even exchange emails on items
| | 01:57 | that don't affect the group of whole.
| | 02:00 | If you'd like to brainstorm ideas
briefly with other members of the group, now
| | 02:04 | would be the time to do this.
| | 02:06 | Ask for brief responses to a specific question.
| | 02:10 | Listen respectfully to each suggestion.
| | 02:13 | Write down what they say and say" thank
you" for each idea, regardless of whether
| | 02:19 | or not you agree with it.
| | 02:21 | After the meeting is over, when you're
processing, you can either discard ideas
| | 02:26 | or contact people to discuss
those ideas in greater depth.
| | 02:31 | Also, keep in mind that it may not be
necessary to use the full time that's given to you.
| | 02:37 | If you can say everything that needs
to be said in a shorter amount of time
| | 02:42 | then go ahead and pass on your
extra time to the next person.
| | 02:45 | No one has ever complained about
someone else using less than their allotted
| | 02:51 | time or about a meeting getting out early.
| | 02:54 | Finally, if as you're speaking
someone makes a commitment to you to do
| | 02:59 | something, make a note to yourself
to follow up with that person.
| | 03:03 | Even though there's a note taker and the
leader in the room who will make notes
| | 03:07 | of that commitment,
| | 03:09 | it's ultimately your responsibility
to follow up with someone who makes
| | 03:13 | a commitment to you.
| | 03:15 | So in summary, keep track of the
commitments that you make and keep track of the
| | 03:20 | commitments that others make to you.
| | 03:23 | When everyone has a voice and everyone
uses their time wisely, your meetings
| | 03:29 | will be very productive.
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Giving and taking feedback| 00:00 | Through the course of a group meeting,
sooner or later someone will have an
| | 00:04 | alternative viewpoint or have feedback to offer.
| | 00:07 | When that happens, there are a few
rules of thumb to keep in mind to make sure
| | 00:12 | that the meeting moves along
and that the feedback is positive.
| | 00:16 | The first rule of thumb that I
recommend to all attendees is to focus your
| | 00:20 | comments on actions and on results.
| | 00:23 | All too often, it's easy to assume the
motives behind what someone says or to get
| | 00:29 | caught up in personality differences.
| | 00:31 | For the purpose of a group meeting,
it's important to leave the personality,
| | 00:35 | assumptions, and emotions out of the equation.
| | 00:38 | Focus simply on the actions, meaning
the steps that people are taking, and the
| | 00:43 | results that they're getting from those actions.
| | 00:45 | What did their actions achieve?
| | 00:48 | If you focus your comments on actions
and results, the likelihood of emotion
| | 00:54 | getting mixed into the
feedback becomes very low.
| | 00:57 | The second rule of thumb that I would
give you is use softening words that leave
| | 01:02 | room for the possibility
that you could be wrong.
| | 01:05 | I also call this the Ben Franklin Principal.
| | 01:08 | In his autobiography, Franklin
recounted how he had the habit of stating his
| | 01:13 | opinions very strongly.
| | 01:15 | A friend took him aside and said
that by saying the same things, but with
| | 01:20 | softening words, people would be
more likely to listen to his opinion.
| | 01:25 | From that point forward, Franklin
made a personal commitment to stop using
| | 01:30 | words like "certainly" and "undoubtedly" and
replace them with "I imagine" and "it appears" to me.
| | 01:37 | For example, rather than saying
"it absolutely must be the color green," say "to me
| | 01:45 | it seems like green would be a good choice."
| | 01:48 | Not only will that make others more
receptive to your point of view, but it will
| | 01:53 | also give you the opportunity to
correct yourself if it turns out later that
| | 01:57 | your opinion was wrong.
| | 01:59 | The third suggestion that I would
give you is be open, be receptive.
| | 02:04 | When someone shares something with you
that appears to be criticism or even
| | 02:08 | positive feedback, avoid
responding to it immediately.
| | 02:11 | Say, thank you, make a note
about it and think about it later.
| | 02:16 | As you pause for reflection, you may
find out that what they say is true and
| | 02:21 | even if you don't agree with their
perspective, you'll be able to craft a
| | 02:24 | response later when you're calm and relaxed.
| | 02:28 | And finally, my fourth suggestion is
for the meeting leader in particular.
| | 02:33 | If a heated discussion grows, the
recurring group meeting is not the time and
| | 02:38 | place to have that discussion.
| | 02:40 | Usually, it's a better idea to
schedule a separate meeting to deal with
| | 02:44 | specific heated issues.
| | 02:46 | While you want to avoid excessive
meetings, holding a special meeting for an
| | 02:51 | emotionally charged issue can be a wise choice.
| | 02:54 | A separate freeform meeting will give
you plenty of time to cover every opinion
| | 03:00 | and give people the freedom to relax
and not feel that they're under the
| | 03:04 | pressure of the clock.
| | 03:05 | Follow these four rules of thumb when
it comes to giving and receiving feedback
| | 03:10 | and your meetings will stay
productive and focused on results.
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Keeping meetings productive and on topic| 00:00 | To keep meetings moving smoothly and on
time, it's very important that we keep
| | 00:05 | the meeting on topic.
| | 00:07 | Keeping the meeting on topic is not
just the meeting leader's responsibility;
| | 00:12 | it's every attendee's responsibility.
| | 00:15 | However, the leader is the one who
will most likely need to make small
| | 00:19 | corrections if people get off course.
| | 00:21 | It's natural that occasionally a
meeting will drift off topic or off course.
| | 00:26 | When that happens, just follow a few
simple tips to bring things back on topic.
| | 00:33 | The first tip is that if someone
gets off topic or is disruptive,
| | 00:37 | avoid singling them out by name.
| | 00:40 | Instead, direct your
comments to the group as a whole.
| | 00:43 | For instance, if someone starts to
talk while it's another attendee's turn
| | 00:47 | to speak, simply say, "let's all
give Jonathan our full attention." Or if
| | 00:53 | someone multitasks during the discussion, say,
"let's all make sure we're not multitasking."
| | 01:00 | A simple reminder to the group as a
whole is usually enough, especially if you
| | 01:05 | have established ground rules.
| | 01:08 | This leads me to my second
suggestion: refer to the ground rules often.
| | 01:13 | If an attendee does something that's
keeping the meeting from being productive,
| | 01:17 | again rather than singling them out or
talking about their specific behavior, go
| | 01:23 | back to the ground rules.
| | 01:24 | For instance, if you feel that someone
is holding back, you can refer to the
| | 01:29 | ground rule by saying, "we've all agreed
to be open and share our thoughts fully.
| | 01:33 | Let's all speak candidly."
| | 01:35 | And finally, to keep the meeting
productive, use a timer rather than yourself
| | 01:41 | to do the reminding.
| | 01:42 | Get a simple kitchen timer with a loud alarm.
| | 01:46 | A loud alarm makes it easier for the
timer to be the enforcer of the time
| | 01:51 | budget, not the leader.
| | 01:53 | If the timer buzzes and you're still
speaking when your time is up, just
| | 01:57 | quickly finish your sentence and then
say "I'm done for now," and allow someone
| | 02:01 | else to start speaking.
| | 02:03 | If you're the leader and someone
continues past the buzzer, just say "let's make
| | 02:08 | sure that we give the
next person their full time."
| | 02:11 | Hopefully, everyone understands the
ground rules and they'll be respectful of
| | 02:15 | the time and they'll keep the
meeting moving forward and productive.
| | 02:19 | Occasionally though, the leader will
need to provide gentle reminders to
| | 02:24 | keep everyone on track.
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Reviewing action items and closing the meeting| 00:00 | The final step in the agenda is
to review everyone's action items.
| | 00:06 | Throughout the meeting, different
people may have committed to accomplish
| | 00:09 | certain things by a certain time.
| | 00:11 | Usually at this point the leader will
turn the time over to the note taker and
| | 00:16 | ask them for a summary of the commitments.
| | 00:19 | The note taker then summarizes each
person's commitments using who, what, and when.
| | 00:24 | In other words, who made the commitment,
what they committed to do, and when
| | 00:29 | they committed to accomplish it.
It's that simple.
| | 00:32 | Go through each person on the agenda,
look for the commitments they made, and say
| | 00:37 | "Alex committed to deliver the files to
Lisa by Tuesday afternoon." Who, what, when.
| | 00:43 | As the note taker reads through the
list, each attendee should pay close
| | 00:47 | attention and make sure that they agreed
to the commitments that are being reviewed.
| | 00:52 | They also need to make sure that they've
put those commitments they've made into
| | 00:56 | one of their gathering points.
| | 00:59 | A gathering point is a designated
place where you write the action items down
| | 01:04 | and then look at them later to
decide when to follow through on them.
| | 01:08 | After reviewing everyone's action items,
it's time for the leader to close the meeting.
| | 01:13 | The leader does this by simply
confirming the next time that the meeting is
| | 01:17 | scheduled, the place where the meeting will be held,
and also confirming any other additional meetings.
| | 01:22 | For instance, if something needed to
be discussed in greater depth outside of
| | 01:26 | the regular meeting schedule, the
leader will remind everyone of that special
| | 01:31 | meeting and make sure
they have it on the calendar.
| | 01:34 | Just to emphasize, end on time,
or even better, end early.
| | 01:39 | When you consistently end meetings at
the scheduled time, people will become
| | 01:44 | used to the idea that time matters and that how
they use their time during the meeting is important.
| | 01:51 | They'll be more respectful of the meeting
because they know that their time is valued.
| | 01:56 | In short, respect everyone else's
time and they'll respect your time.
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Reviewing minutes| 00:00 | At the end of the group meeting, the
note taker or leader should have a list of
| | 00:04 | minutes using the note-taking
template we've provided for you.
| | 00:08 | The note taker should also make a copy
of all those minutes and send them to
| | 00:12 | you through email or another method so that you
have the opportunity to review the notes later on.
| | 00:19 | When you receive the minutes, take
a moment and review them carefully.
| | 00:23 | In particular, pay close attention
to any time your name is mentioned,
| | 00:27 | especially wherever it says that
you made a commitment to someone else.
| | 00:32 | What you're looking for are any
differences between what the minutes say and
| | 00:36 | what you thought was actually discussed.
| | 00:38 | This is just to ensure that there
is clarity between all attendees.
| | 00:42 | If for some reason you see something
that the note taker missed and you feel
| | 00:46 | it's important that every attendee be
clear about it, send a message back to the
| | 00:51 | note taker and to the meeting
leader with your suggestion.
| | 00:54 | That gives them both an opportunity to send out
the clarification to all other attendees if necessary.
| | 01:00 | By taking just a brief moment to
review the meeting minutes, you will avoid
| | 01:05 | confusion and stay on the same
page with all the other attendees.
| | Collapse this transcript |
|
|
4. Having a One-to-One MeetingUnderstanding the importance of the one-to-one| 00:00 | The regularly scheduled one-to-one
meeting is one of the most powerful tools
| | 00:04 | that any manager can use.
| | 00:06 | One-to-one meetings are effective
for executives, team managers, project
| | 00:10 | managers, and even working
with your long-term clients.
| | 00:13 | The reason why they're so powerful is
because they help you avoid the many
| | 00:17 | little quick questions that
happen throughout your day.
| | 00:20 | One manufacturing company that I
coached said that just implementing the
| | 00:25 | one-to-one meeting
increased productivity by 30%.
| | 00:29 | A one-to-one meeting is a regular
meeting that occurs at the same time and the
| | 00:33 | same place and is scheduled
perpetually on your calendar.
| | 00:37 | It's the place where you and one
other person meet and no one else.
| | 00:42 | It's the place where you can communicate
with each other and follow up with each
| | 00:45 | other on the things unique
to your working relationship.
| | 00:49 | The one-to-one meeting is a place
where both should feel respected and valued,
| | 00:54 | and it's a place where you can
ask each other questions openly.
| | 00:58 | Too often people ask each other
questions scattered throughout the day or the
| | 01:02 | week, which causes a lot of
switches in attention or switch-tasking.
| | 01:07 | In my Time Management Fundamentals
course, I talked about how switch-tasking is
| | 01:12 | the number one enemy of your productivity.
| | 01:14 | The one-to-one meeting is a
powerful tool in reducing the number of
| | 01:19 | switches that take place.
| | 01:21 | This isn't to say that you're not
going to have the occasional emergency or
| | 01:24 | questions that need to be dealt with
outside of this meeting, but when you have
| | 01:29 | a recurring schedule, you'll find that
you can wait to ask those questions until
| | 01:35 | the recurring meeting, freeing both of
your time, increasing your productivity,
| | 01:40 | and reducing the stress that
you're experiencing in your workday.
| | 01:44 | The one-to-one meeting is not a
place to deal with creating or
| | 01:49 | brainstorming projects.
| | 01:50 | That is usually better handled in a
project meeting or in a recurring group meeting.
| | 01:56 | It's also not a place for
criticism or strong correction,
| | 02:00 | although occasionally there will be
feedback given and some minor correction.
| | 02:05 | If there are serious issues to be
discussed, they should take place outside of
| | 02:10 | this regular one-to-one meeting.
| | 02:12 | In general, the one-to-one meeting
should be used for anyone that you deal with
| | 02:17 | regularly on a daily or weekly basis.
| | 02:20 | In the next video, I'll give you a
tool to help you determine the people that
| | 02:25 | best fit the one-to-one meeting schedule.
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Deciding who to meet with in a one-to-one| 00:00 | Occasionally, when I talk about the
concept of one-to-one meetings, people are
| | 00:04 | uncertain who they should be
holding these meetings with.
| | 00:08 | To help you decide the best people
to meet with in one-to-one meetings,
| | 00:12 | we've provided a simple worksheet that will
walk you through the decision-making process.
| | 00:17 | This worksheet is a subjective guide
that allows you to evaluate for yourself
| | 00:22 | the needs of the people that you work with.
| | 00:24 | In the first column, you
will see Work Relationship.
| | 00:27 | Simply list all the people that you
work with on a regular, recurring basis.
| | 00:33 | Don't worry about listing people that
you work with once per year or less.
| | 00:37 | Only focus on the names of people that
you see on a daily, weekly, or monthly basis.
| | 00:43 | Next, you'll fill in each of
the columns with a simple scale.
| | 00:47 | The first two columns ask for a 0 or a 3, meaning
put 0 if it doesn't apply or 3 if it does apply.
| | 00:56 | For assistance, if you manage the person,
or they manage you, then put down a 3,
| | 01:01 | and a course if no management is
involved then you would put a 0 there.
| | 01:06 | The next column is Ongoing client.
| | 01:09 | This applies particularly to service
professionals who have clients on retainer
| | 01:14 | or who you're working
with on a long-term project.
| | 01:18 | If you have someone like that
that you meet with, put a 3 there.
| | 01:22 | The rest of the columns Questions,
Delegate, Coordinate, and Follow up can simply
| | 01:27 | be answered with the 0, 1, 2, or 3.
| | 01:30 | 0 would represent never, 1 rarely,
2 occasionally, and 3 frequently.
| | 01:38 | So for instance, if I put Aimee's name
here and we both frequently ask each other
| | 01:44 | questions, then I would put
3 in the Questions column.
| | 01:48 | Fill in each of the columns for the
various people that you meet with.
| | 01:52 | Delegate means that you delegate things
back and forth to them, or they to you.
| | 01:57 | Coordinate means how often do you two
need to coordinate your schedule?
| | 02:02 | And Follow up means how often do you follow
up with each other to make sure that you
| | 02:07 | are successful in what you do?
| | 02:09 | Again, this is not an exact science,
but just a simple scale to help you
| | 02:14 | understand how critical it is to meet
with people on a regular one-to-one basis.
| | 02:20 | After you've completed this for each of
the names on your list, add up a total
| | 02:24 | and find out what their need score is.
| | 02:27 | And last, rank each of these people
according to their need score, so the person
| | 02:32 | with the highest number would rank #1.
| | 02:35 | To start with, I recommend that you
schedule one-to-one meetings with the top
| | 02:41 | three or four people on that list.
| | 02:44 | In the next video, I'll give you some
suggestions about how often you should
| | 02:48 | meet with these people.
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Establishing a one-to-one schedule| 00:00 | After you've decided on a handful of
people that you should meet with on a
| | 00:04 | one-to-one basis, the next step is
determining the schedule for these
| | 00:08 | one-to-one meetings.
| | 00:10 | There's no perfect answer to how often you
should meet and how long the meeting should be.
| | 00:15 | However, I can give you some rules of
thumb based on my experience of working
| | 00:19 | with companies of all shapes and sizes.
| | 00:22 | The most common one-to-one meeting
schedule is two times per month at 25
| | 00:27 | minutes per meeting.
| | 00:29 | So if you don't know where to
begin, that's the place to start:
| | 00:32 | two meetings per month, 25 minutes per meeting.
| | 00:35 | However, that's just the baseline.
| | 00:38 | Most of you will know what's more
appropriate for the people on your one-to-one list.
| | 00:43 | So if you feel that meeting twice
per month isn't enough, then schedule
| | 00:47 | meetings more often.
| | 00:49 | However, the more often you meet,
the shorter the meeting should be.
| | 00:53 | So, if I say that I need to meet with
Faye every week, then I would probably
| | 00:58 | want those meetings to be just 15 minutes.
| | 01:02 | On the other hand, the less often I
meet the longer the meeting should be.
| | 01:07 | Let's say that I have someone else,
maybe a top client that I only need to meet
| | 01:12 | with once per month.
| | 01:13 | Since I'll meet with him less often,
the meeting should be longer, maybe up to 50 minutes.
| | 01:19 | This is because there's been a lot of
space between the meetings and we want
| | 01:23 | to make sure we have plenty of time to
discuss the various questions that we might have.
| | 01:29 | Again, this discussion is not designed
to give you a one-size-fits-all rule, but
| | 01:34 | rather, give yourself a launching point.
| | 01:37 | The good news is that once you get
into the rhythm of having these meetings
| | 01:42 | they're very easy to keep. This is
because you'll have an established pattern on
| | 01:46 | both of your calendars.
| | 01:48 | I would encourage you that when you
both schedule a one-to-one meetings on
| | 01:52 | your calendars, schedule them as a
recurring meeting with a pattern.
| | 01:57 | On a digital calendar, it will
automatically fill in all the dates in the future.
| | 02:01 | This will help make it a habit that
you both stick to, and if you ever need to
| | 02:06 | move a single meeting, that's not a
problem; just make a single exception, but
| | 02:11 | keep the normal one-to-one meeting pattern.
| | 02:15 | Finally, one caution, if you don't
stick to the schedule: if you consistently
| | 02:20 | miss meetings, show up late, or have to
move them around a lot, soon they'll lose
| | 02:25 | their effectiveness, and you'll revert
back to the old pattern of having to
| | 02:29 | answer and ask quick questions
constantly throughout the day.
| | 02:33 | So when choosing your date and time
with the person, put effort into setting a
| | 02:38 | time that you'll both know you
can keep, and you'll stick to it.
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Determining the one-to-one agenda| 00:00 | Often, when I train people about
one-to-one meetings, they ask me,
| | 00:04 | "What's the agenda, what should we cover?"
| | 00:06 | We've provided a simple agenda for you that you
can download from this course's information page.
| | 00:12 | You may notice some similarities to the group
meeting agenda, yet there are important differences.
| | 00:18 | I'll give you a brief walkthrough of
the agenda right now, so you can see how
| | 00:22 | it fits together, and then I'll cover
each aspect of the agenda in greater
| | 00:26 | depth in separate videos.
First, begin your meeting on time.
| | 00:31 | Second, follow up on action items that
you committed to in the previous meeting.
| | 00:37 | Next, the leader will teach a brief
development, about 3 to 5 minutes.
| | 00:42 | No matter who you're meeting with,
this is a great opportunity for you to help
| | 00:46 | that person learn and grow.
| | 00:48 | I'll give you guidance on how
to prepare for and teach this.
| | 00:52 | The fourth step in the agenda is where you give
them an opportunity to ask you for their needs.
| | 00:58 | You'll ask them "what do you need from me?"
and you'll listen patiently and give them
| | 01:02 | the opportunity to ask as many
questions as they want to ask.
| | 01:06 | This will remove many of the quick
questions that are taking place throughout
| | 01:10 | your week that are causing
you both to be less productive.
| | 01:14 | The fifth step is that you'll then have an
opportunity to ask them questions and make requests.
| | 01:21 | This includes delegating items to them.
| | 01:24 | Then you'll review the commitments you
made to each other during the meeting by
| | 01:28 | asking the question, "What's
the next step for each of us?"
| | 01:32 | And then finally, end the
meeting on time or early.
| | 01:36 | This simple agenda will become the framework
for every one-to-one meeting that you have.
| | 01:41 | It's very effective because of its
simplicity and because it allows each person
| | 01:46 | a significant amount of time to be heard.
| | 01:49 | It will ensure that these meetings are
highly productive by helping you both
| | 01:54 | follow through on your commitments.
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Listening effectively ("What do you need from me?")| 00:00 | After development, the next step in the
agenda is to discuss your needs and questions.
| | 00:06 | If you're the meeting leader,
let the other person go first.
| | 00:09 | So if you're the leader, simply begin the
next section by asking, what do you need from me?
| | 00:15 | But whether you go first or second,
here are some tips to help you be
| | 00:18 | an effective listener.
| | 00:20 | First, allow the other person to
go through their one-to-one list.
| | 00:25 | Let them take their time, and make sure
that they have the opportunity to ask
| | 00:29 | any questions that they have written down
there, or even any questions that come to mind.
| | 00:35 | Listen from the perspective of finding
out how you can help the other person.
| | 00:40 | Listen with an attitude of service.
| | 00:43 | Your role in the one-to-one meeting is
to help the other person to be successful.
| | 00:48 | So listen attentively to everything
that they ask from you and give your best
| | 00:53 | effort to help them out in any way that you can.
| | 00:57 | When they ask you to do something,
be sure to get a clear who, what, and
| | 01:01 | when for each item.
| | 01:03 | By clarifying who needs to take action,
what the next step is, and when that
| | 01:08 | step should be done, you'll be
better prepared to follow through.
| | 01:12 | Finally, as appropriate, make a
commitment to follow through and do what you've
| | 01:17 | said you're going to do.
| | 01:19 | Remember, in the one-to-one meeting, your
most important role is to serve the other person.
| | 01:26 | When they're speaking, listen
actively, with an attitude of service.
| | 01:30 | When you both have an attitude of
service, one-to-one meetings are
| | 01:34 | incredibly powerful.
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Delegating effectively ("This is what I need from you.")| 00:00 | If you're the meeting leader, once the
other person has had an opportunity to
| | 00:05 | ask all of their questions, now it's
time for you to ask your questions.
| | 00:09 | This is a deliberate choice in
the one-to-one meeting agenda.
| | 00:12 | By giving first and allowing them to
ask whatever they want first, it puts you
| | 00:17 | in a position of service.
| | 00:19 | It also puts them in a frame of mind of
being more willing to help you with the
| | 00:24 | questions that you have.
| | 00:26 | At this point, everything I say
relates to what to do if you're the person
| | 00:30 | sharing your list, regardless of
whether or not you're the leader.
| | 00:34 | First, you'll go through your one-to-one
task list and look item by item for any
| | 00:40 | questions that you have for that person.
| | 00:43 | The one-to-one task list is so critical
in making one-to-one meetings effective.
| | 00:48 | It saves a lot of time for
you and the other person.
| | 00:51 | So, be sure that you've brought that list
with you and that you're prepared to talk about it.
| | 00:57 | Next, when you need help from the other
person, give them specific descriptions,
| | 01:02 | particularly about the results that
you want the other person to achieve.
| | 01:06 | For a very simplified example, if you want
the other person to create a poster for
| | 01:10 | you, tell them specifically what you
want the result of that poster to be.
| | 01:15 | Tell them anything that's critical to
that result, such as the colors that
| | 01:19 | they should use, the type of pictures they
should use, the language that they should use.
| | 01:24 | In other words, give as much
specific detail as you possibly can.
| | 01:28 | That will help the other person be
successful in completing the task and also
| | 01:33 | avoid having to make many corrections later on.
| | 01:37 | Then after you a give specific
description of the result that they should
| | 01:41 | achieve, give them a clear who, what,
and when for each item that you've asked them to do:
| | 01:47 | the who, meaning this is who should
take action; what, meaning this is what the
| | 01:52 | next step should be to accomplishing it;
and the when, meaning this is when you
| | 01:57 | need it back from them or completed from them.
| | 02:00 | In summary, go through each item on
your one-to-one list, give the other
| | 02:04 | person a specific description of the
result they should achieve, and provide
| | 02:09 | the who, what, and when.
| | 02:12 | This will help make it easier for the
other person to serve you and help you be
| | 02:16 | successful in your work.
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Reviewing action items and closing| 00:00 | After you both have an
opportunity to ask each other questions,
| | 00:03 | it's time to wrap up the meeting.
| | 00:05 | Before you end though, you want to
reconfirm all the commitments that
| | 00:09 | you've made to each other.
| | 00:11 | Take turns briefly going through all
the commitments that you've made to each
| | 00:14 | other, making sure to repeat the
who, what, and when for each item.
| | 00:19 | Also, if you've delegated a task to
someone else and you feel it's important to
| | 00:24 | follow up with them, make sure that you
create a reminder for yourself to follow
| | 00:28 | up with that person.
| | 00:29 | A quick suggestion:
| | 00:31 | when repeating the who, what, and when,
make sure that you're allowing the other
| | 00:35 | person freedom to determine their own
schedule and their own way to go about
| | 00:40 | completing the task.
| | 00:42 | Rather than focusing on the how,
meaning how someone is going to accomplish it,
| | 00:46 | focus on the end result:
| | 00:49 | what things are going to
look like when they're done.
| | 00:51 | This will help the other person
feel respected and validated and avoid
| | 00:56 | unnecessary micromanaging.
| | 00:58 | After you've reconfirmed all the steps
that you need to take after this meeting,
| | 01:03 | reconfirm the date and time
for the next one-to-one meeting.
| | 01:06 | If necessary, adjust the time or
location of the next meeting, but make sure
| | 01:11 | that you both are committed to
attend and participate fully.
| | 01:15 | Finally, it's time to end the meeting.
| | 01:18 | End every meeting on time or early.
| | 01:21 | If you get done with the meeting ahead of
schedule, then great; go ahead and end the meeting.
| | 01:26 | As I've had said before, no one's ever
complained about a meeting getting out early.
| | 01:32 | At the very least, make
sure that you end on time.
| | 01:36 | If you respect the other person's time,
they'll respect your time, and it will
| | 01:41 | make future one-to-one meetings more successful.
| | Collapse this transcript |
|
|
5. After the MeetingCompleting action items| 00:00 | Whether you attended a group meeting
or a one-to-one, you'll very likely come
| | 00:05 | away from every meeting with action items,
tasks, and projects that you need to work on.
| | 00:11 | Part of the success of future
meetings will depend upon your success in
| | 00:16 | completing your action items.
| | 00:18 | This means that if you can come
to every meeting and show the other
| | 00:21 | participants that you keep your
commitments and you meet your deadlines, then
| | 00:26 | you'll earn their trust.
| | 00:27 | They'll learn they can count on you,
and they'll likely give you greater
| | 00:31 | respect in the workplace.
| | 00:33 | Now, just a comment to go along with that idea:
| | 00:37 | when you complete an item that
comes out of a meeting, report back;
| | 00:41 | send an email or a note to the person you
committed to and let them know that it's done.
| | 00:47 | Now if you completed it just before the
next meeting, of course, you can report
| | 00:51 | back in the meeting itself.
| | 00:53 | But it's usually helpful to other
people to let them know the moment you've
| | 00:58 | completed a commitment.
| | 01:00 | Every time you do that, it
relieves a small burden off their mind,
| | 01:04 | so they don't have to wonder if you got it done.
| | 01:07 | Complete your commitments and those
you work with will feel a great sense of
| | 01:11 | trust, that whatever they give
you, you'll get it done on time.
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Following up on action items delegated to others| 00:00 | When you participate in group
meetings and one-to-one meetings you'll very
| | 00:04 | likely be asking other people to help you out.
| | 00:07 | While they'll likely do a great job of
completing those assignments on time,
| | 00:11 | we want to take responsibility on
ourselves to follow up with them.
| | 00:15 | So keep this rule in mind:
| | 00:17 | whenever you delegate something out,
create a waiting-for-in for yourself.
| | 00:23 | Think of delegation like a yo-yo.
| | 00:25 | Whenever someone else commits to do
something for you, you should also create an
| | 00:30 | action for yourself that
you're waiting for them to do it.
| | 00:33 | Create a reminder with the time and
date they committed to get that to you.
| | 00:38 | You can create reminders for yourself
in your calendar or your task list.
| | 00:42 | When the reminder pops up, follow up with
that person and ask if the item is complete.
| | 00:48 | If you haven't heard from them yet,
simply send them a message along the lines
| | 00:52 | of, "I had a reminder that I was waiting
for that report - have you had a chance
| | 00:56 | to get to it yet?" Or when the
reminder pops up, if you know that they've
| | 01:00 | already completed the item, you can
send them a message such as, "Thank you for
| | 01:05 | getting that report done -
| | 01:06 | it makes my job easier."
| | 01:08 | Little compliments like that not
only help everyone feel better, but they
| | 01:12 | reinforce a culture of
follow-through in the workplace.
| | 01:16 | Another way to follow up on delegated
items that have flexible deadlines is to
| | 01:21 | add a follow-up reminder to a
group list or a one-to-one task list.
| | 01:26 | For instance, if Alice commits to me
that she'll send out a series of emails in
| | 01:32 | time for our next one-to-one meeting,
then all I really need to do is create a
| | 01:36 | reminder in my one-to-one Alice list to
follow up with her about those emails.
| | 01:42 | Then when I go to the meeting, as I go
through that list, I can see that in the
| | 01:47 | list and then ask Alice about it.
| | 01:49 | Remember, a delegate-out
is always a waiting-for-in.
| | 01:54 | Whenever you ask someone else to do
something for you, be sure to consistently
| | 01:59 | follow up with them.
| | 02:01 | This will create a culture of
making and keeping commitments.
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Reassessing the effectiveness of meetings| 00:00 | If you follow the suggestions of
this course, the effectiveness of your
| | 00:04 | meetings should improve.
| | 00:05 | However, we want to make sure that your
meetings are getting better each and every time.
| | 00:10 | The best way to do that is to establish
a schedule to continually reassess the
| | 00:15 | effectiveness of your meetings.
| | 00:18 | A great starting schedule is once
per quarter or once every three months.
| | 00:23 | Take part of your meeting to ask
each attendee the question, "are these
| | 00:27 | meetings effective?"
| | 00:29 | You could possibly do this during the
development portion of the scheduled meeting.
| | 00:33 | Along with this question, you
can ask the follow-up question:
| | 00:37 | "what could we do to improve the
effectiveness of these meetings?"
| | 00:42 | By regularly checking in, you'll give
yourself the opportunity to make small
| | 00:46 | improvements and adjustments over time.
| | Collapse this transcript |
|
|
ConclusionFinal thoughts| 00:00 | In this course, we've given you a framework
you can use in any company to make meetings
| | 00:05 | more productive and focused on results.
| | 00:09 | The most important principle of any meeting
is that it gets the results that you want.
| | 00:14 | I'd recommend that every attendee creates a
schedule to regularly review this course on lynda.com.
| | 00:20 | Review this course twice per year, or even
once per quarter, and you'll sharpen your
| | 00:25 | meeting skills and pick up on things that
you may have missed the first time around.
| | 00:30 | Meetings exist to serve you and your
business, not the other way around.
| | 00:35 | Make an effort to regularly improve the quality
of your meetings and you'll see them become
| | 00:40 | more and more effective and accomplish
great results for you and your co-workers.
| | 00:46 | Thank you for watching and happy meeting!
| | 00:51 |
| | Collapse this transcript |
|
|
