Welcome to Business Management
Sunday, April 8, 2007
Principles That Lead to Successful Meetings
These four principles provide a foundation for leading effective meetings.
1) Everyone has valuable ideas. Your job as leader in a meeting to put people to work. And this includes everyone. If you plan to invite someone without expecting contributions, leave that person out. Spectators cost money and slow the meeting process.
> Example: Open a meeting by telling the attendees, "I asked you to come to this meeting because I need your help." Then use equitable participation to collect ideas from everyone.
2) People rise (or drop) to meet positive expectations. Savvy leaders tell people that they're smart, clever, or creative because that makes them perform like people who are smart, clever, or creative. Certainly, the opposite is true: those who insult people stifle extraordinary performance.
Example: Tell the attendees that you expect them to accomplish your goal for the meeting by saying, "We have a tough problem here and I expect that you can find an solution for it." Then help them meet your expectations.
3) Respect motivates people. All of us want to be treated with respect. It makes us feel strong, powerful, and capable. And this helps make a meeting more productive. On the other hand, disrespect damages productivity by causing resentment, withdrawal, and retaliation.
Example: If someone makes an odd remark during a meeting, react with optimistic surprise by saying, "What a novel idea." or "How interesting." Then explore for applications ("How can we use this idea?") or understanding ("Tell me more about how this would work").
4) Win-win goals produce more. People will work hard to accomplish something that represents a benefit. In contrast, they will resist working on something that could cause them harm. This requires seeking both-and solutions by a consensus-driven process.
Example: When working on a controversial issue with conflicting proposals, seek solutions that accommodate everyone’s needs. This requires careful and candid dialogue to understand what these needs are. Then, the group will have find a result that includes the essential elements of all of the needs (i.e., a both-and result, instead of an either-or result).
1) Everyone has valuable ideas. Your job as leader in a meeting to put people to work. And this includes everyone. If you plan to invite someone without expecting contributions, leave that person out. Spectators cost money and slow the meeting process.
> Example: Open a meeting by telling the attendees, "I asked you to come to this meeting because I need your help." Then use equitable participation to collect ideas from everyone.
2) People rise (or drop) to meet positive expectations. Savvy leaders tell people that they're smart, clever, or creative because that makes them perform like people who are smart, clever, or creative. Certainly, the opposite is true: those who insult people stifle extraordinary performance.
Example: Tell the attendees that you expect them to accomplish your goal for the meeting by saying, "We have a tough problem here and I expect that you can find an solution for it." Then help them meet your expectations.
3) Respect motivates people. All of us want to be treated with respect. It makes us feel strong, powerful, and capable. And this helps make a meeting more productive. On the other hand, disrespect damages productivity by causing resentment, withdrawal, and retaliation.
Example: If someone makes an odd remark during a meeting, react with optimistic surprise by saying, "What a novel idea." or "How interesting." Then explore for applications ("How can we use this idea?") or understanding ("Tell me more about how this would work").
4) Win-win goals produce more. People will work hard to accomplish something that represents a benefit. In contrast, they will resist working on something that could cause them harm. This requires seeking both-and solutions by a consensus-driven process.
Example: When working on a controversial issue with conflicting proposals, seek solutions that accommodate everyone’s needs. This requires careful and candid dialogue to understand what these needs are. Then, the group will have find a result that includes the essential elements of all of the needs (i.e., a both-and result, instead of an either-or result).
# posted by gopi @ 8:50 PM 
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