11Aug/14

Meeting Basics

August 11, 2014BlogAgenda, Facilitating, Icebreaker, Instruction, Meetings, TipsVictoria

Senior staff meeting By George Armstrong

By George Armstrong (This image is from the FEMA Photo Library.) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

Ever find yourself in the endless meeting? You know the one I mean – you have no idea why you’re there and nothing is getting accomplished. You’re there simply for the sake of checking off the weekly to-do list. The truth is that you can have a productive meeting if you know what to do. If you are responsible for the weekly staff get-together, here are some tips that may help you be more successful.

Make sure your meeting has a purpose

This may seem like a no-brainer but oftentimes people have no idea why they are meeting. One way to help set expectations is to decide before hand what type of outcome you want to achieve. Your expected outcome will help define what type of meeting to hold. If you have information to give but want to hold off discussion at a later time; let the team know that. If you expect a group decision, let them know their participation is welcomed and expected. Do you want group input and feedback? Will there be activities involved? These questions will help determine not only who needs to attend but also things like: room layout, resources needed and how long to meet. The point here is that the better prepared everyone is – the more successful you’ll be.

Publish an agenda

Now that you know why the meeting is happening, let others in on the secret. Prepare an agenda and hand it out before the day of the meeting. If the agenda is presented the day of the meeting (or worse yet, at the meeting) it is too late for the participants to prepare. Lack of preparation means lack of engagement.

Vary settings for a change of pace

Do you have to hold your meeting in the conference room? Your setting can influence your outcome. Do you want an open discussion when managers are in the room with direct reports and senior leaders? Get rid of the conference room and place the chairs in a circle (Remember the legend of the Knights of the Round Table). If you are giving instruction – use a traditional classroom setup with you at the front and chairs in rows. But what if you want to brainstorm and foster creativity? Try taking the meeting outside. Another tip to get participation going? Bring snacks. You don’t have to go all out. I’ve seen a bowl of candy in the middle of the table work wonders for the simple fact that people are more comfortable talking when they’re breaking bread together.

Increase participation by using icebreakers

If you’re looking for participation and creativity, start your meeting with an icebreaker of some sort to loosen people up. While the activity can be tied to the meeting topic, I suggest you go with something completely unrelated. The idea is to get people interacting and thinking.

Start and end on time

Assign a timekeeper and stick to your schedule. People will love you for it. Leave time at the end for a quick debrief. Ask people what they liked and didn’t like about the meeting and the way it was conducted. Use the list to improve your style and you’ll find that your meetings will become more energized and maybe even enjoyable.

01Aug/14

Go Out and Play

August 1, 2014BlogCreativity, Discovery, Innovation, Play, Self-absorptionVictoria

“Jack and Elise jumping off swings” by wsilver ©

What exactly is play?

Play, according to Dutch Historian and cultural theorist, Johan Huizing is a ” A free activity standing quite consciously outside ‘ordinary’ life as being ‘not serious’, but at the same time absorbing the player intensively and utterly”. OK it’s a mouthful but what Huizinga was trying to say is that play allows us to become totally absorbed in things that are not really important to our everyday life. Not only is the objective to have fun, but our self-absorption in something frivolous gives us the opportunityto unleash creativity and innovation and to engage our sense of discovery.

What’s interesting is that as adults, we take our “games” seriously which is in direct contrast to what Huizinga suggests. As adults, we play to compete because we want to win. For whatever reason, victory becomes the goal. Sometimes the reason is money. Other times, it’s and fame; and face it, the public admires and tries to emulate the winners. Can you say celebrity shoe endorsements? One of the ways we move our sense of play from outside of our ordinary life right smack into the middle of it is in the arena of professional sports. Think about it. We pay athletes tremendous amounts of money simply to watch them play.

Reclaim your sense of fun

I suggest that as adults, we reawaken the 5 year old inside and open ourselves to discovery through genuine play. I’m talking about the rolling in the mud, puddle jumping, and butterfly chasing activities that allowed our imagination to turn a box into a car as a kid. Do the things that could later becomes the catalyst for the next revolutionary engineering marvel. Play revitalizes us. It opens us to the simple, uncomplicated task of just being. When we do, we are more receptive to the world around us and by extension more receptive to growth and creativity. In short, we lose that overwhelming sense that if we don’t get it right things will come crashing down around us. And even if that does happens, play gives us the chance to see it as an opportunity instead of a setback. So here’s my challenge to you – go out and chase butterflies. You may be surprised at what you discover.

Ref: How play and games transform the culture of work: An interview with ross smith. (2012). American Journal of Play, 5(1), 1-21.

18Jul/14

Communication Today – Old dogs and New tricks

July 18, 2014BlogCommunication, Email, Information, ManagerVictoria

Photo by Paul Kucharczyk

Today’s communication comes in 40 characters or less and news stories last no more than 2 minutes. The technological revolution has allowed us to do more faster than ever before; we can save fifteen minutes or more watching TV by fast forwarding through commercials. Websites redirect if they take more than 5 seconds to load and the popularity of texting has given us a whole new language designed around brevity. But at what cost? Today’s world wants information fast and frequently. The writing is on the wall – if you can’t keep up, move over.

I consider myself to be a very good communicator because I choose words carefully to make sure the meaning is clear. I am educated and have always had a rather extensive vocabulary, even as a child. Well earlier this month, I learned a valuable (and rather painful) lesson. None of that really matters when you’re trying to communicate if you don’t understand your audience.

Lesson one: Don’t assume

I emailed family and friends to announce a combined birthday party. Realizing that people were busy and often swamped with email, I sent the message to only one member of each household. At the bottom, (with a special “NOTE :”) I explained my rationale.

During the party I noticed that everyone was there except my nephew so I texted him to find out why. The next day he phoned and said that his wife never told him about the party and he didn’t find out until she got home from work. He had been asleep the whole time and she just assumed that I emailed everyone individually.

Lesson Two: Keep up with what’s current

The next week at a different party, I teased him about it and pulled out the email to show him my note. As soon as I said it was at the bottom of the email (so it would stand out) several people started laughing. “At the bottom! Nobody has time to read entire emails; we just scan the subject and the first few words. If it’s not important we move on”. This was news to me. The weird thing is, I do the very same thing (talk about being short-sighted). Of course, I’d be the first person to tell you that I only include vital information so my readers won’t be confused (look for a future post on delusion and denial). Clearly, something had to change and it wasn’t going to be my readers. I made a quick note to self; better communication means shorter emails.

Here’s the thing; I still believe that sacrificing information for the sake of brevity is not a good thing to do. Here’s the problem with that. If no one sticks around to hear the message, it doesn’t matter what I say. This is where a good manager and a mediocre manager part ways. Good managers develop flexibility; the mediocre ones retain the status quo even when it doesn’t work.

Lesson three: Change is constant; get comfortable with it

Part of growing as manager is realizing that you may have to change, even if you’re right. It means checking your ego at the door and putting the organization before yourself. Face it, a great plan to get things done in the least amount of time with the fewest resources will only work if people stick around to hear it. Your job is to see that they do. How? Learn to see the big picture, assess the pros and cons of compromise and proceed accordingly. It means the boss must take the time to learn how others learn and then adjust his style to meet their needs. Not the other way around.