Recommendations from last week
Last week Denis had a rare success and his meeting went well. His success came from being able to use small groups to get things done in meetings. Small groups can work more effectively than large ones and since you have multiple groups, the product is multiple too.
Moderation Summary.
Over the last few weeks I have written a lot of stories about meetings and moderation. This week no stories just some information. If meetings are a topic you are faced with regularly and you aren’t satisfied with how they work, I hope this is helpful.
So what are the main elements?
Preparation: If meetings aren’t prepared, they rarely lead to success. The main elements of preparation are
· Define goal
o Once you have a goal it gives you an orientation and clarity
o Make the goal concrete, one that you can measure whether you have reached it at the end of the meeting
· List of topics
o These give the broad areas that you want to work in order to reach your goal
· Participants
o Think about who needs to be there each time. If someone does need to be there, then for how long.
· Script
§ Techniques to use
§ Moderation style
§ Tools
§ Schedule
o The script gives a concrete plan, with timing. It means you are much likelier to get finished in time
· Invite
o The invite is the first thing that the participants see and so influences whether they come and in what mood they come. It also gives the practical information the participants need to prepare and get to the meeting.
Moderating the meeting itself
Once the colleagues arrive it is important to get them working as effectively as possible. There are a lot of techniques available, for example: discussion circle, brainstorming, voting, pro/contra analysis etc. They all have their uses and are good ways to provide variety in meetings.
The other key factor is how you moderate the people in the meeting. If you avoid interruptions, long monologues and unnecessary arguing then the atmosphere will remain positive which is makes the meeting more pleasant to be in as well as more successful.
