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Expect the Unexpected In Your Meetings
Excerpt from Lead Conversations that Count: How Busy Managers Run Great Meetings
(Rowntree Press, 2021)
In any organization, when it comes to the substantive issues of your team discussion, you need a clearly defined game plan that is adaptable, so you can shift and meet the needs of the moment. Having a dynamic game plan allows you to be nimble, resilient and responsive to the needs of your group.
Focus the discussion with an agenda. This gives people a roadmap of what they can expect to cover and helps them manage their attention and energy accordingly. Perhaps you start with an agenda created and shared in advance, then modify it with your participants’ input. It is a starting point and should serve as a guide for organizing your time in the meeting.
Don’t expect your agenda to unfold exactly as planned, however. When it comes to group dynamics, you can expect a few curveballs, detours, and unexpected bumps on the road. For an emerging Conversation Leader struggling to get the group on-topic, it might be more important to throw out your pre-designed agenda and just listen to what needs are emerging within your group. This part of the meeting can feel messy and confronting. It is completely normal that the conversation isn’t always linear, differences of opinions get expressed, and people aren’t sure what to do next. “Building shared understanding is a struggle, not a platitude,” says author and facilitator Sam Kaner. “Misunderstanding and miscommunication are normal, natural aspects of participatory decision-making.” (Sam Kaner, Facilitator’s Guide to Participatory Decision-Making, 2014).
Creating an agenda in chunks that can be delivered and discussed in shorter periods can be particularly useful for virtual meetings. Modularizing your discussion topics provides the flexibility to shift and adapt based on what the group needs. Like LEGO bricks, some basic forms of content or ideas can be put together in many ways and sequences, depending on what you’re trying to build. When leading a discussion virtually, you need the ability to adapt quickly to respond to the group’s attention span and engagement, and stay focused on the tasks at hand.
Running a great meeting is like baking a cake; it takes heat and time. Repeatedly opening the oven to see if it’s done yet reduces the temperature and increases your baking time. Conversations will sometimes feel heated, or messy, or unformed. But if you’re clear on your purpose, foster strength in relationships, and allow the group’s wisdom to play out, you will have an effective and engaging conversation.
Take Action
Review the agenda you have prepared for your next team meeting, and decide what is absolutely crucial to cover in the discussion vs what would be nice but not absolutely necessary. If you end up needing more time, or if the discussion goes sideways, it’s helpful to have your bottom-line clear of what’s most important.
What are 2 or 3 strategies you can have in your back pocket in case you need to have the group step back and regroup? It might be to take a short break, or put people into small group discussions to share what’s been most important for them in the meeting so far. You could even set a timer and ask people to do some individual reflection. Have some back pocket strategies ready to go, if and when you need them.
Resources
Sam Kaner, Facilitator’s Guide to Participatory Decision-Making. Jossey-Bass, 2014.
Author Information: This is an excerpt from Lead Conversations that Count: How Busy Managers Run Great Meetings by Carolyn Ellis (Rowntree Press, 2021). For more information on the book, please visit www.LeadConversationsThatCount.com. This article may be shared provided the author information is included.
Photo by Charisse Kenion on Unsplash
