Los Ranchos de Albuque, NM

Monday, June 02, 2008

Leading an effective meeting should not be such a challenge. But it takes some know-how and often lots of courage. Guts. Chutzpah.

"Art thou a man or a peanut?" – William Shakespeare

You may be comfortable standing up to a subordinate, but what about a customer or your boss? Yet they are running a lackluster meeting, involving a handful of people, all spinning their high-salaried wheels for hours at a time. Cha Ching! Someone stop the carousel – I want to get off.

Chances are that more than one person would love you forever if you helped drive the efficiency up by taking over. Well, maybe taking over is out of the question, but can you help make this a happy ending?

You can. Actually, anyone in the room can, unless he is a peanut.

SITUATION

You are in a meeting in which the conversation is ineffective, unfocused, and dragging on and on. (You may or may not be the one in charge).

TRY THIS

Leaders take initiative. This is a great opportunity to show some.

Use re-directing statements and conclusive observations such as:

It sounds like we have reached a conclusion.

We just heard several ideas for solving this. Can we write those on the white board?

I have heard the same thing 3 times. Let's acknowledge that and move on.

We are onto a tangent from the objective of this meeting. Let's capture that as a "parking lot" issue.

In the remaining 10 minutes that we have ...

I hear an agreement among the group. Let's document that.

Where are we on the agenda?

What is our desired outcome of this discussion?

Variation: train your staff to use the same methods and award "points" for implementing redirecting statements (Like Drew Carey points, they may mean nothing … but people like the competition).

Those of you that are guilty of running these uninspiring meetings please come forward. Just as I thought – you are oblivious. The leader that finds himself in that pickle is often unaware that productivity has run amok, or has a slight sense and would welcome a comment from a spectator or two.

Your choice, remain as a reluctant nut in the … shall I say … peanut gallery.

From the June issue of Better-Leadership.com's Everyday Leader Monthly Leadership Tip.

Katie Snapp

President

Better-Leadership.com

Los Ranchos de Albuque, NM

505 280-1427

866-808-7631