The Gang's All Here

Kathryn Tyler

And they are on the clock. To make sure their time isn't wasted, consider offering group facilitation courses for meeting leaders.

When Doug Brimacombe became CEO of the British Columbia Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals more than two years ago, the organization's business meetings were less than ideal. "Meetings tended to be a free-for-all," he says. "They were poorly structured. Some folks had grown used to a pattern of conflict, having meetings outside the meetings."

So Brimacombe brought in a facilitator to teach board and staff members how to conduct and participate in meetings. Now, he says, "People are coming to meetings for the first time in a long time. They are being much more orderly. The whole group is listening better."

At many organizations, meetings are the bane of existence for employees. "When people find out they are going to be on a team, the thing they complain about the most is that it will involve more meetings," says Linda Moran, senior consulting partner for AchieveGlobal, a training and consulting firm in Simsbury, Conn. "They think meetings are a waste of time."

And many are. Experts estimate that managers spend at least two hours per day in meetings--and that one-third of that time is wasted. What's more, the expense of a poorly run meeting extends beyond employee salaries to "the amount of paper produced, travel costs, accommodations and food," says Eli Mina, meeting facilitator and author of The Complete Handbook of Business Meetings (AMA-COM, to be published in June 2000).

Mina adds that there is a human cost as well. People "need time to recover from the impact of the meeting, especially if it isn't run well. They're drained and unhappy. If you invest this much in a meeting, you have to have a good return on your investment. Meeting training is crucial."

And it may become even more crucial. "Meetings are changing as a result of more organizations being global," says Moran. "People are teleconferencing and videoconferencing," which increases the urgency behind holding focused meetings. "Videoconferencing is very expensive," says Moran.

In addition, as organizations "move away from rigid hierarchies, there has been an increased emphasis on team-based decision making," says Paul Damiano, Ph.D., SPHR, senior program associate for the Center for Creative Leadership, a non-profit research, training and educational institute in Greensboro, N.C.

This makes the conduct of effective, efficient discussions even more important. When leaders lack these skills, the result is weak meetings--and either indecision or poor decisions. "Unproductive meetings are devastating for organizations," says Brimacombe.

Unfortunately, many organizations do little to mitigate the effects of bad meetings. "Most managers have been exposed to little or no formal training in team dynamics," says Damiano. "When you consider all the decisions that are being made across organizations in team settings, making an investment to increase the probability of better outcomes would seem well worth the effort."

Brimacombe agrees: "Most organizations have lots of potential for growth with respect to the quality of their meetings."

The Benefits

Meeting training, also known as group facilitation training, offers many potential benefits, such as increased productivity, better decisions, shorter meetings and greater employee satisfaction. What's more, the training has nearly universal applicability because most employees at any level of an organization must attend some sort of meetings. Thus, meeting training can dramatically affect the entire organization.

"Facilitation skills are a very portable skill set that can be used in a multitude of job functions and situations," says Dana Wilson, district manager for management and leadership education at AT&T in Atlanta. AT&T's facilitation training lasts three days and focuses on team and individual growth and development, intervention styles, conflict resolution and meeting facilitation. "It's been a worthwhile investment," says Wilson.

At companies that have instituted meeting training, "Meetings are focused," says Moran. "They start and end punctually." But, more importantly, "There's a sense of satisfaction that it was time well spent."

They also are more efficient. For example, Mina describes an annual meeting he was asked to facilitate. Typically, the meeting lasted four or five unproductive hours. When he prepared both sides beforehand, the meeting lasted only an hour and half, and the group was more focused and relaxed.

Who Should Attend Organizations can approach meeting training in two ways: train meeting leaders exclusively or train both leaders and participants. Damiano suggests you do both. Universal training reduces the burden on facilitators and familiarizes participants with the process and the behavior expected of them.

However, training every employee can be expensive and time-consuming. "If we expect everyone to participate, it would take too long before the organization would feel the benefits of the training," says Moran.

"What is helpful is if key executives and team leaders participate first."

Damiano recommends training for "any manager or leader who routinely makes significant decisions via team processes or anyone who spends a significant amount of their time in group activities."

At AT&T, team leaders, supervisors, managers and project leaders attend the training, says Wilson.

Course Content

Training will undoubtedly include a review of the basics of good meetings, such as setting an agenda and keeping on schedule. But teaching meeting leaders some of the less familiar, soft skills may yield more significant changes.

A key lesson for meeting leaders is to avoid thinking they have to have all the answers. Mina says new managers often "think of themselves as the decision-makers; they think they had better come up with a solution in advance and bring it to the meeting. I tell them, 'Forget your ego. Come to a meeting not to impose decisions, but to ask questions.'"

Meeting leaders also need to learn how to balance the personalities of participants. "The goal needs to be equalizing the opportunities for participants to influence the decision-making," says Mina. One way to achieve that end is to "design the agenda in such a way that each person has a lead role in one agenda item," he says.

At the beginning of the meeting, Moran recommends, "The leader needs to establish some ground rules." Possible ground rules include time limits on how long each participant may speak and mandatory participation by every member.

The leader also can have the group establish its own ground rules. Either way, "Once people understand the ground rules, there can be balanced participation. If one person is contributing more than enough, you can reference the ground rule. That makes it less personal," says Moran.

Damiano agrees: "I like to have the team members literally sign their names to the ground rules, which I leave posted during all meetings. There is something powerful about the peer pressure of collectively signing your name to a document that remains visible throughout the life of the team. In this way, disruptive behavior is cut off before it can manifest itself."

In addition to establishing ground rules, leaders have to draw out shy participants and quiet dominant ones. For example, "The facilitator could simply say, 'Mary, we haven't heard from you yet today. How do you feel about what is being discussed?"' advises Damiano. Or, if one person is talking too much, Mina suggests saying, "Thank you, so-and-so. Let's hear from some of those who have not spoken." He also recommends asking members to "raise hands, rather than voices.

Moran advises, "Go around and hear each person's point of view." If some participants are still reluctant to speak up, try separating the team into smaller groups that share common views. "Highly reticent people feel more comfortable speaking in a small group of people who share their opinion," says Moran. "They can find their own voice in the subgroup. The next step is helping them in a larger group.

Damiano suggests another technique: Have participants write out their responses. "Many people are more comfortable reading something that they have had time to think about," she says.

Leaders also need to learn conflict management. "A good facilitator should not prevent conflicts from occurring," says Damiano. "This is a common fallacy among many facilitators, They believe any evidence of team conflict is an indictment against them as a facilitator. In fact, the complete opposite is true. Conflict is a normal, natural and necessary component to effective team development."

Suppressing conflict can stifle team growth. It also allows the conflict to surface outside the meeting--where it cannot be managed, says Damiano.

Mina agrees. "People look at controversy and they panic. I look at it as an opportunity to honestly examine the organization." If tempers flare, leaders can ease tension by clarifying the points of contention and asking the participants to state each other's positions.

In contrast, some meetings may suffer from a lack of conflict, called "groupthink." Groupthink happens when employees have worked together for a long time and value harmony above all else. The result is a lack of fresh ideas. Leaders can discourage groupthink by breaking meetings into subgroups and asking each group to develop a solution to the problem, recommends author Bobbi Linkemer in How to Plan and Run Productive Meetings (AMACOM, 1989). Each subgroup will probably produce different approaches, which can be discussed by the whole group.

Lastly, facilitators need to guide a group through the decision-making process. One of the important aspects of this process is preventing the team from digressing from the issues without seeming like a taskmaster.

"It is helpful if the person leading the meeting is not in charge of everything. For those new to group facilitation, managing all of the dimensions simultaneously can be difficult. Divide the responsibility--a scribe, timekeeper, gatekeeper. If the topic isn't related, the gatekeeper can ask for the topic to be moved to another part of the agenda or tabled if it isn't appropriate," says Moran.

Additionally, leaders must guide the group to make a decision. "If consensus is appropriate, focus on identifying the areas of disagreement," says Moran. "What part of the issue are we not supporting? What do we need to move forward? Once we have clarity, we can move to resolution more quickly."

But, she adds, leaders should not confine themselves to seeking consensus in all situations. "We have this assumption that all meetings need to have a consensus. We need to assume that there is another form of decision--majority rule, manager's decision--that is equally appropriate and acceptable for getting to closure besides consensus."

Who Should Conduct the Training?

"There are clear advantages to having [training] done in-house," says Moran. "You can use more examples, references and the language of the organization. If you can train someone in-house to conduct meeting training, then you aren't dependent on some outside resource." In addition, "People become jaded about someone coming in, providing some training and leaving."

However, you may want to hire consultants to train the trainer. If so, you need to apply the same diligence you would use in hiring any senior-level executive, says Damiano. "Anyone can label themselves a 'facilitator' or 'teams specialist,' as there are no legal ramifications preventing people from using those types of titles. Check references and consider multiple, situational - based interviews. Learn how they came to be a facilitator, what combination of academic and applied experience they have and what successful--and perhaps unsuccessful-teams they personally have led. It may even help to see their 'stage presence' via videotape from previous engagements."

Kathryn Tyler, M.A., is a Wixom, Mich.-based freelance writer and former HR generalist and trainer.

CREATING THE PROPER CORPORATE ENVIRONMENT

Much of what goes on in a team setting is influenced by the larger organizational context," says Paul Damiano, Ph.D., SPHR, senior program associate for the Center for Creative Leadership, a non-profit research, training and educational institute in Greensborn, N.C.

"Team effectiveness can be inhibited by many factors that may have very little to do with the facilitator. For example, I have seen teams made up of people who did not want to be on the team and were determined not to contribute. Other teams are given unreasonable deadlines, Impossible demands, no resources [or] no time or [they] lack credibility. In these situations, the organization may be setting up a facilitator and the team for likely failure."

To avoid those problems, Damiano suggests managers look "at some of the factors that have contributed to team failure in the past and try to remove those barriers before embarking on a training program of this type."

If you're going to have this training, it must become part of the corporate culture," says Linda Moran, senior consulting partner for AchieveGlobal, a training and consulting firm in Simsburg, Conn. "It must become a new standard, starting at the top of the organization. Everyone will have a common expectation."

One method to reinforce the new standard is to log the amount of time employees spend in meetings over a two-week period and the outcomes of those meetings before offering training. Then, do the same exercise three months after the training. Companies will probably "see more outcomes that are decisions and resolutions of issues," Moran says.

MEETING TIPS

Here are some tips on how to conduct more effective meetings:

Determine if a meeting is necessary. Many times the same objective can be accomplished through several telephone calls or e-mail messages.

Define the desired outcomes. What do you hope to gain from the meeting? Do you want to present information, generate ideas or solve a problem?

Have an agenda and share it. Participants should receive a copy of the agenda prior to the meeting so they understand why they have been asked to attend, This also allows participants to come prepared. "It is a richer exchange if people can red, analyze and absorb information" before the meeting, says Linda Moran, senior consulting partner for AchieveGlobal, a training and consulting organization in Simsbury, Coon.

Select adequate facilities. The room must be large enough to accommodate the number of attendees. However, do not reserve an auditorium for a small meeting, as the participants will feel lost.

Avoid long narrow tables, which make it difficult for people to speak to anyone other than the person sitting directly across from them.

Avoid rooms with posts as they may obstruct attendees' views of the speakers.

Select snacks and beverages carefully. It is difficult to converse while you are eating a full meal. Avoid messy foods. Keep choices simple.

Start on time. Participants who are on time will appreciate your respect for their time. Employees who are habitually late will soon realize they will miss much of the meeting.

Set your goals. Discuss the objective of the meeting and review the agenda at the outset.

Practice using special equipment. Make sure you know how to operate multimedia tools, such as VCRs, flip charts, overhead projectors, etc. If you are unfamiliar with the audiovisual equipment, practice beforehand.

Spread things around. Solicit balanced participation from attendees.

Set aside time for a wrap-up. In the last few minutes, summarize what was accomplished, action plans and target dates. End on time and on a positive note.

COPYRIGHT 2000 Society for Human Resource Management
COPYRIGHT 2001 Gale Group