The other day I attended a starchy lunch meeting in which several new people were introduced. They introduced themselves and told us what they did. But one held the stage and asked us each to introduce ourselves and tell what we did. Groan. He wasn't there to educate us but to let us educate him. I edged toward the door and executed a French exit.
As one of those people who dislikes meetings it was refreshing to see a recent article by Steven Rogelberg, an expert on meetings, titled The Science of Better Meetings in which he set forth a simple formula on how to have a successful meeting.
And sure enough, he addressed the fact that sometimes the leader is the problem:
My team’s research, published in 2011 in the journal Group Dynamics, shows that one person usually leaves a meeting feeling good about it: the leader.
In outline form, his points are as follows:
1. Recognize that you may be the problem.
2. Keep it small.
3. Don’t take an hour. "Try a 48-minute rule in place of an hour ..."
4. Do a meeting “pre-mortem.” "[A]gendas were typically standard boilerplate, repeated at every meeting, or made up on the spot. ... An effective agenda works like a plan for an event: It has clear goals or key questions to answer. "
It's harder for the meeting planners, but it just might work. The goal should be to make attendees not dread another meeting but want to attend.
It's worth a try.
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3:57 PM 2/19/2019
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