The FireFly Whiteboard - Effective Meeting Facilitation Strategies, Team-Building Tools, and Training Techniques from Kimberly Douglas, President of FireFly Facilitation.

FireFly Facilitation Answers a Blogger’s Meeting Effectiveness Question

Have a tough question or issue you’re dealing with? We love receiving comments from our readers and are happy to respond to specific questions!  Here is another question from a recent blog visitor…

I manage a team of 10 student staff members and we meet on a weekly basis. As a student myself, I understand that they have other things going on and are often disengaged during our meetings. After meetings, they come to me asking the same questions that I already went over. It's very frustrating. How do you recommend leaders engage team members in this type of situation and help them retain the important information?

My top 4 recommendations for situations like these are:

1) Keep a targeted agenda in front of everyone at all times. Be sure it shows time allotted for discussion of each item. If time runs out, quickly decide how to deal with it – e.g. postpone further discussion until the next meeting (perhaps with prep work in between); allow X amount of additional time now; pick up the discussion at the end of the meeting, time permitting.

2) Be clear on the expected deliverable for each agenda item. For example, is it for idea generation, evaluation, decision, or planning? Limit the number of items that are for information only. Use handouts for these items with clear bullet points of facts they need to know; everyone has a very limited attention span for these kinds of topics.

3) Restate the outcome of the discussion before moving on. This gives people a sense of accomplishment and clarity about what was decided. Best practice tip: Flip chart decisions and actions throughout the meeting. Capture – for all to see – who is to do what by when. It amazes me how much more seriously people take their accountabilities when you write it up for all to see!

4) Make time for a 5-minute wrap up at the end. Do a round robin, with everyone recapping what they are accountable for delivering. Good questions for the leader to ask to get people thinking about the impact of the meeting: “Who needs to know what we decided today? How are we going to communicate this to them?

These 4 simple steps will keep everyone on point and engaged!

Part 2: What To Do When Holding a Meeting with Silent Introverts & Overbearing Extroverts - Meeting Effectiveness Tips from FireFly Facilitation

Part 2 of the series from Kimberly's interview with Dr. Jennifer Kahnweiler for Jennifer's teleseminar on Mastering Meetings for Introverts. Click here to view the first post in the series. 

The Top 8 things to do if you are the meeting leader or facilitator… 

 5.  Conduct quick process checks during the meeting to see if people are satisfied with the level of participation and adherence to the ground rules. A simple thumbs up for “good” and thumbs down for “not good” will suffice. Then solicit their suggestions (after individual think time – see below) for improving the interaction and participation in the group.   

6.  Always give them time to think. Everyone needs time to think before speaking in order to be effective – whether we take the time to do it or not. Before expecting a free-wheeling, productive discussion on a topic, pose the question – and then give them 2 to 3 minutes to jot down their thoughts. This allows introverts a chance to gather their thoughts before they speak – which they like to do – and forces extroverts to do the same – which they hate (I should know!)

7.  Mix up the facilitation processes to maximize interaction. Instead of always discussing things in a large group, first give them individual thinking time (see above), then have them discuss it in small groups. The smaller the number (3-5 is best), the more the interaction. You can also use round robins as a tool for ensuring that everyone weighs in on a topic. Mix up where you start each round robin to keep people on their toes. This is especially effective for keeping participation high in virtual meetings.

8.  Call on introverts to respond to direct questions – but use this tactic sparingly and carefully. Make sure that they can answer the question effectively – you might need to make clear why you are calling on them in particular (e.g. because of their expertise or experience with this issue). Must be careful not to appear to label them as introverts and someone in need of your help or protection from the extroverts – they can speak for themselves if they are given the opportunity.

Look for Part 3 - What to do if you are the introvert - coming soon! 

FireFly Facilitation Answers a Blogger’s Meeting Effectiveness Question

Recently, one of our blog readers commented on the Introverts/Extroverts post by asking the following question: “No matter what, you always have at least one team member that doesn't play fair. As a leader, how can you encourage overbearing personalities to play by the ground rules without ridiculing them at the same time?”

To answer that question, there are several things you can do as a leader:

First, tell the group you want to spend a few minutes talking about some "conversational ground rules" we can adopt to make sure that our time together is as effective as possible. Ask for some suggestions for some ground rules that they have used before or seen others use that they think might work really well for this group. One that I have seen groups adopt is "Everyone participates" (and then ask people to police their own level of participation - am I participating enough? Too much?).

"Speak in headlines" is a good one for groups that have people who take the floor and then expound too long on a topic. Discuss with the group the ground rules list you developed – and then select only the top 3 to 5 that everyone can agree to live up to. Be sure not to make a list of 10 things we will never do – you want rules that will stick and be effective.

Next, as the leader you have to make sure and keep these ground rules front and center. Many of the teams we work with actually include them as part of the agenda, so it is right in front of people during the meeting. Better yet, especially early on, write them on a flip chart piece of paper and post them in the room. Challenge people to courageously acknowledge when they have broken a rule – and just as courageously to (gently) point out when others have too.

Finally, if this individual is still causing a problem in meetings, then you need to deal with him/her one on one. Help them to understand how you perceive their behavior and the negative impact you see it having on their relationship with other team members. Ask how you can help him/her to alter their behavior – and then make clear that you expect a change. Be sure to watch for – and recognize, privately or in the meeting, as appropriate – positive changes to their behavior. And get ready for more engaging and productive meetings in the future!

What To Do When Holding a Meeting with Silent Introverts & Overbearing Extroverts - Meeting Effectiveness Tips from FireFly Facilitation

Recently, Jennifer Kahnweiler (PhD and President of AboutYOU, Inc. a consulting firm based in Atlanta, GA) interviewed me for information for her teleseminar on Mastering Meetings for Introverts on May 7. In a 3-part series of postings, I will be listing the tips that I gave her. As always, feel free to leave a comment and I will be glad to respond. Happy reading! 

To see more information about or to register for the teleseminar, go to: http://aboutyouinc.com    

The Top 8 things to do if you are the meeting leader or facilitator…

1. Prep invitees to make them better participants. Make sure each participant knows why they were invited. Do they have particular expertise or experience with the topic to be discussed or a decision to be made? Make sure you let them know you want them to share it – and you will make sure everyone will be heard. Also, send out the agenda and any necessary pre-reading in advance in enough time to actually be read. Introverts like to be fully prepared and dislike surprises and being put on the spot, while extroverts love spontaneity.

2. Use “strategic seating”. Use name tents if possible, and place introverts in the more seats in the room – in a middle seat at the base of the U, at a middle seat on the side if using a board room table. Place dominant players in the less visible seats – at a corner of the U, at a far end from the meeting leader, surrounded on both sides by neutral or quieter participants.

3. Have good ground rules – and get participants to police themselves. Two great ground rules that I recommend to groups with an unequal level of participation between introverts and extroverts is “Everyone participates” and “Speak in Headlines”. Remind them that everyone was invited because they have unique information or point of view to share (see above). In order to make sure everyone gets the benefit of hearing these diverse perspectives (which leads to better decisions), ask people to police themselves throughout the meeting to ensure they are not “over or under participating”.

Tips 4-8 coming next!

The Top Pitfalls of Pitiful Meetings…that have to be dealt with real-time, during the meeting! ...Meeting Effectiveness Tips from FireFly Facilitation

In the last post, I dealt with pitfalls that can be avoided or corrected before the meeting even starts. Here, I will give you some tools and tips for dealing with the pitfalls that occur real-time.

–     Not using ground rules – also known as a meeting free for all. You don’t have to act like a sergeant-at-arms when using them – you can think of these as “conversational ground rules”. Conversational ground rules are ways that we are going to act in this meeting to ensure everyone’s time is well used.

–     Allowing some participants to dominate – You know the ones I mean…those people who love to let everyone know they are the most important person in the room…have the best ideas…have something to add on every subject. First tip, don’t let them sit at the front of the room – this definitely gives them a feeling of being on stage. Use name tents to arrange seating if you can, or try to stack the deck and ask the introverts to sit towards the front. If you are the leader, try not to sit near them – they will be very distracting to you.

–     Not capturing and distributing outcomes – Simple solution...post a flip chart piece of paper and track real-time actions to be taken using this format --- WHO, WHAT, and BY WHEN.  At the end of every discussion, be clear about what decision was made – then ask, “Who's not in this meeting that needs to know what we just decided?”, and figure out how you will inform them.  If you keep the format for capturing what went on in the meeting simple, you have a much greater likelihood of getting it done and getting it distributed quickly.