Conducting successful meetings
By Ann-Maree Moodie | smh.com.au | 14 July
We've all been there - a meeting is called to decide something simple but the time drags on for much longer than expected.
As the discussion is derailed, people feel they haven't been heard and no one seems to know who wants what.
As American economist and diplomat John Kenneth Galbraith once said, meetings are indispensable when you don't want to do anything.
It's estimated that the average manager spends more than 60 per cent of his or her working week attending or preparing for meetings. But it's not the amount of time spent in meetings that causes frustration and resentment - it's the sense that reaching a conclusion is impossible.
As a manager, you're responsible for overseeing the work of a team. Many times, the directions you give and the goals agreed to will be made in a meeting.
A meeting will be called to present a progress report, brief and debrief the team on a project and brainstorm new ideas. The trick is to be organised, disciplined and focused on an outcome. The badly run meeting will demotivate the team, cause confusion and suck up valuable resources.
Formalities such as an agenda, with items for discussion and allotted time for each, can be very useful. Nominate one person to take notes and another to keep time. As the chair, you'll need to show leadership by ensuring everyone is heard and summarising the opinions of the group. Make sure everyone is clear on the outcome and those given tasks understand their responsibilities and are committed to meeting the deadline.
But even the most time-efficient meeting may not result in a consensus.
Dr Robert Cialdini, known for his research on the art and science of persuasion, says there are three things you can do to optimise group decision-making.
"First, engage others in your team by asking them for their opinions and insights," Cialdini writes. "Encourage group discussion and listen carefully to their responses. The second step is to set up systems that ensure collaborative exchanges whether or not collaboration seems necessary. As a leader you should reserve the final authority for a decision to yourself [but] the third thing you can do to optimise group decision-making is to be certain to assure your team members that their opinions will be taken into account when you make that final decision."
Even the most junior person can have an impact. All they need is a little kairos.
"A race-car driver with kairos knows how to spot an opening and cut off the car ahead," writes Jay Heinrichs, author of Thank You for Arguing. "A kid with kairos can tell precisely when her father is most vulnerable to a request for ice-cream."
Kairos means rhetorical timing. It's about having the ability to seize the persuasive moment. An appreciation of kairos is useful in any situation but for a manager seeking team consensus in a meeting, it's priceless.
The trick is to wait until the right moment to speak: if you have an idea that costs money, wait until the end of a successful financial year to pitch it. Alternatively, if your idea saves money, pick a time when senior executives are getting nervous about budgets.
Speaking after everyone else has had their say is also a good way to ensure your voice is heard.
"The last speakers always have the persuasive advantage," Heinrichs writes. "This is because the earlier speakers can cause opinions to begin migrating. Take advantage of this by restating the opinions of the earlier speakers, including opponents."
The final step in bringing a meeting to consensus is done well before anyone takes their seats. Ask yourself what you want to achieve. Do you want to inject more energy and enthusiasm for a new idea? Make the team feel greater ownership of a project? Criticise their progress so far without discouraging them from trying at all?
A meeting will be rated as successful if it achieves commitment to a decision that's both rational and emotional. In other words, everyone will do it because they want to.
"The surest way to commit an audience to an action is to get them to identify with it - to see the choice as one that helps define them as a group," Heinrichs writes.
By listening actively, assuring the group that each opinion is heard, summarising the discussion regularly and asking questions that keep the discussion alive, you can achieve what you want, while everyone else will believe the final decision is their own.
All those in favour?
The art of persuasion
Speak the language, or jargon, of the group. Even better, tell a joke that only the group will appreciate. It will help the team bond and make everyone feel part of the discussion.
* Ask other team members for their opinions and insights and listen carefully to their responses.
* Assure team members that their opinions will be taken into account when the final decision is made.
* Wait until everyone else has had their say before speaking. The last speakers always have the persuasive advantage.
* Regularly summarise the opinions of the group to keep discussions on topic.
* Be clear about what you want to achieve. If you start with the end in mind, you'll have more patience to allow opposing speakers to voice their concerns.
Ann-Maree Moodie is the managing director of the Boardroom Consulting Group.
First published by Smh.com.au on July 14 2008
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