Maximising Meeting (and Workshop) Outcomes

Sunday, 06 June 2010
Several weeks ago I was talking to a group of project managers about how to get the most out of their meetings and workshops. The further we went, the clearer it got that my lovingly crafted presentation wasn’t doing it for some of them.

But aren’t they really the same when it’s all boiled down?

Well, the short answer is – it depends. Here’s the longer answer:
  • In my experience, effective meetings and workshops are both underpinned by the same framework of preparation, design and implementation. For me, the answer was clearly yes. I tend to use the words interchangably.
  • Conversely, for some of the group, meetings and workshops were completely different in terms of participants, timing, topics and outcomes. As such, the only thing these events had in common was the project they were working on.
In addition, this part of the group were looking for some techniques to help them manage their meetings. Meetings were often a problem, and they wanted a way to just fix them. This is a more comprehensive version of my response.

Firstly, you should prepare, design and run the meeting as discussed in previous articles. To recap: be clear with everyone about the bottom-line for the meeting; make sure all the available information gets shared and cross-connected; figure out what the priorities are; and finally – make a decision.

This is not about formal chairing or facilitating. It is about having a clear structure and process in place. You can do this with an introduction followed by a simple series of questions that guide the discussion to a clear conclusion. It’s faster, more comprehensive and gives better results for the long term.

Secondly, when the going gets difficult you need to separate the person from their position. That is, you work with what they say and mean, rather than how they say it.

One way to do this is three-part assertion messages. These use a format of:
  • “When you say…”
  • “I feel/think…”
  • “Because…”.
This format teases the objective data apart from acknowledging the tensions and the ‘why’.

Thirdly, you can see how these work together as a nested process. A given meeting might have several topics to cover, combining to make an overall whole. Each topic has its own process, leading to a conclusion. Each process can in turn be broken down as required to cover all the different aspects properly.

So, what great tools have you used to make sure good decisions get made whilst keeping on track and on time?

Go well!

David