Effective Meetings

Marta Filipski & Matt Summers: Vancouver Coastal Health

2

3

“M.A.S.” – Mindless Accept Syndrome. – An involuntary reflex in which a person

accepts meeting invitations without even thinking why.

– A common ailment amongst workers worldwide.

4

Today’s Objective

To empower you with helpful tips and reflective activities to make you feel more in control of your meetings. We’ll focus on: •Structuring meetings •Your brain on meetings •Your role in facilitating effective meetings.

5

Why care about meetings and facilitation?

Take a moment to think about your week…

1. Think about your outlook calendar, your inbox, your to-do list…

2. Now take a deep breath….

7

How many meetings do you attend per week?

A) 0-1 B) 2-5 C) 5-10 D) 10-15 E) 15+

8

How long do your meetings go?

A)15 minutes B)30 minutes C)45 minutes D)1 hour E)They’re supposed to be quick check-ins but inevitably go for the whole morning..

9

How many people generally attend your meetings?

A)1 B)2-4 C)5-8 D)9-12 E)13+

10

Approximately what % of your meetings start on time?

A)100% B)70-99% C)50-69% D)30-49% E)I can’t remember the last time a meeting started on time.

11

Cost of meetings add up

12

Ripple effect of meetings

1 Executive Meeting/ week 11 unit meetings to prepare for Executive

Meeting 21 Team Meetings to prepare for Unit

Meetings Meetings to Prep for Meetings

Annual Cost- 300,000 people hours to support 1 meeting.

13

Common criticisms of meetings are that they are:

too long and not well organized often not needed or held too frequently do not achieve anything can be dominated by a few people do not deal with the important issues

14

Do we really need a meeting or are we meeting because we

always meet?

15

Battling mindless accepting- when can I say no?

• Ask yourself- am I crucial to moving the agenda item forward?

16

What behavior challenges do you see in meetings?

17

Whiteboard

Your brain and meetings….

18

19

Your brain and its response system – creating optimal conditions for meetings:

20

Your brain and meetings…. • Social connection VS the Social rejection IMPACT on

engagement in your meetings.

21

The Brain in threatening meetings

22

How to overcome this brain related problem?

• Create a positive emotional environment with opportunities for people to gain positive feedback and deeply connect with others.

23

What does effective facilitation look like?

Chat Box

What is a facilitator?

25

“A facilitator is a person who is acceptable to all members of a group, substantively neutral, and with no decision-making authority, who intervenes to help a group improve the way it identifies and solves problems, and makes decisions in order to increase the group’s effectiveness.”

Roger Schwartz

What does a facilitator do? • Ensure there is an agenda. • Create an atmosphere of trust. • Maintain focus on agenda and goals. • Manage time and pace of meeting. • Provide processes/tools • Hold group accountable for effective

interpersonal behaviours

26

Back to those behaviors…

1.What is ineffective behavior? 2.What is the impact of such behavior? 3.What is the risk of not intervening? 4.How might you intervene?

27

The loud person who goes off on tangents…

The introvert who

approaches you after the meeting with a great

idea… 28

Getting everyone’s voice in the room: “1-2-4 All”

Sequence of Steps and Time Allocation •Silent self-reflection by individuals on a shared challenge, framed as a question (e.g., What opportunities do YOU see for making progress on this challenge? How would you handle this situation? What ideas or actions do you recommend?) 1 min. •Generate ideas in pairs, building on ideas from self-reflection. 2 min. •Share and develop ideas from your pair in foursomes (notice similarities and differences). 4 min. •Ask, “What is one idea that stood out in your conversation?” Each group shares one important idea with all (repeat cycle as needed). 5 min.

29

The person who is negative….

The person who likes to

stir up emotions by taking opposing views..

30

31

Crowd Sourcing tool

How crowd sourcing works: With 25/10 Crowd Sourcing, you can spread innovations “out and up” as everyone notices the patterns in what emerges. Explain the process. First, every participant writes on an index card his or her bold idea and first step. Then people mill around and cards are passed from person to person to quickly review. When the bell rings, people stop passing cards and pair up to exchange thoughts on the cards in their hands. Then participants individually rate the idea/step on their card with a score of 1 to 5 (1 for low and 5 for high) and write it on the back of the card. When the bell rings, cards are passed around a second time until the bell rings and the scoring cycle repeats. This is done for a total of five scoring rounds. At the end of cycle five, participants add the five scores on the back of the last card they are holding. Finally, the ideas with the top ten scores are identified and shared with the whole group.

32

Other Common Behaviors • The person who likes to stay on track and promotes

decision making.

• The comedian who can be helpful or a hindrance.

• The person who is full of ideas but lacks attention to detail

• The person who is keen to support ideas

33

Approach your meetings from a developmental facilitation

lens… • Managing Team Behaviours • Thinking Styles • Managing Challenges • Building Group Capacity • Building Commitment

34

Thinking Styles

35

• White Hat – neutral and objective, concerned with facts and figures

• Red Hat – emotional, using intuition and giving gut reactions

• Black Hat – focuses on the negative, why things cannot be done; helps you spot fatal flaws and risks before you embark on action

Thinking styles

36

• Yellow Hat – optimistic, concerned, focuses on the positive; helps you keep going when everything seems gloomy and difficult

• Green Hat – creativity and new ideas, out of the box thinking

• Blue Hat – concerned with control and organization of thinking processes; the hat often worn by people chairing meetings

Evaluating your meetings

What worked well today? Even more effective if?

37

Setting you up for success – your next meeting

• Think of a forthcoming meeting you are attending or facilitating

• Whiteboard/chat box entries • How will you apply the 1-2-4-All,

Triz, Thinking hats or other tools in your next meeting? What topic or challenge will you bring forward?

38

Liberatingstructures.com

39

40

Thank You for Attending