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.