Offering plenty of solid meeting ideas to improve team interactions, the article invites twists in the meeting ideas that Idea Magnets will want to incorporate to run meetings RIGHT. To accelerate the potential benefits, employ the solid meeting ideas from the article while adding the twists.
Meeting organizers often use an organization chart or a list of official responsibilities to narrow the attendee list. We recommend reviewing potential attendees based on other criteria:
The idea? Determine whether your original list fully addresses the knowledge, perspectives, and inspiration needed for success.
As you identify the meeting objective, break it down into all the component information, interactions, decisions, and whatever other elements will lead to the expected outcome.
Go into the meeting with an outcome map – essentially a checklist of all these components that will lead to fulfilling the objective. Use (or even display) it during the meeting. Note the parts of the outcome as they develop. This creates a real-time visual of how quickly and to what extent you’re progressing.
We’re not fans of putting numbers to how often people do or don’t participate. A meeting needs the right participation.
Plan your agenda with opportunities for varied inputs: individual verbal comments, verbal conversation, solo writing (or reviewing or voting), and perhaps even individual or group online contributions (which might happen before the meeting). Include time for reflection before making decisions. This approach permits people with different interaction styles to play to their strengths and actively contribute.
Before the meeting, use the meeting objective, the outcome map, and the participant list to determine what types of interaction will move the meeting ahead effectively and efficiently. How could you use each of these interactions?
Plan the agenda to allow for the right interaction mix to accomplish your objective.
A DAD review is one way to recap meeting outcomes. It notes what was:
Across these categories (and others you may want to add), you can recap decisions reached during the meeting, highlight assignments and responsibilities for people to act, and acknowledge what you didn’t address so you can bring items forward again or dismiss them from future discussion.
As with any advice, pay attention to solid counsel on meeting management, but never hesitate to put your own twist on it to make your team even more effective and productive. – Mike Brown