Key Takeaways
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- Meeting roles (make sure everyone knows their role before the meeting)
- Initiator - person who calls the meeting and "owns" the problem or issue
- Facilitator - serves as the process leader; must remain neutral and objective; assertive but not abrasive; create a safe and trusting environment
- Timekeeper - assists the group by reminding them of beginning and ending times
- Resource people - provide input and expertise for group
- Participants - share information and input, make decisions and generally contribute to achieve the meeting's purpose
- Before the meeting
- Purpose - establish a clear purpose and expected outcomes for your meeting. Determine if a meeting is really necessary
- People - decide on the people who will attend based on whether they can help achieve the purpose. Clarify the roles of each participant
- Place - select the proper location, meeting space and room set-up to accomplish your purpose
- Preparation - Select the most important content items to be discussed, solved or decided and prepare an agenda; then, plan the process, give participants advance materials and handle logistics arrangements
- During the meeting
- Focus - reconfirm purpose, outcomes, and agenda; work the agenda to stay on track; use a timekeeper to be aware of time; record ideas, decisions and action items; make sure people read and absorb any materials sent in advance
- Facilitation - encouraging all participants to learn and use effective facilitation skills. Empower the facilitator to run the meeting process
- Feedback - observe and respond to ongoing feedback during the meeting.
- Fun and Fellowship - know when to use some light humor while still getting serious matters accomplished
- At the end and after the meeting
- Consensus - make clear decisions that everyone can live with and support; don't waste time on matters everyone agrees upon; beware of groupthink
- Closure - establish clear action steps, timetables and responsibilities (what, who and when something must be accomplished). End on time
- Critique and celebration - evaluate what was accomplished and the effectiveness of the process. Affirm everyone's contribution
- Communication - Make a permanent record of the meeting output and distribute it to participants and others. Follow up to keep project on track
- Meeting summary - recap of main discussions; decisions made; actions steps (what, who and when); meeting process debrief; send to appropriate people
What I got out of it
- What to do before, during and after meetings to get the most out of them