Bringing out the best brainpower and talent in meetings is expedited by a high level of energy. Does the energy level in your meetings slump the longer the meeting continues?
This “coachcast” covers seven specific strategies that leaders can use immediately in meetings to maintain and increase energy, attention, and vitality.



Listen to 7 Ideas Coach audio podcasts for 7 minutes of leadership insight and know-how.
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New! One page session summaries....

More than anything else, the capacity of people to have a meaningful dialogue is what adds value to meetings by drawing out the brainpower and tacit knowledge around the table. Rich discussion, dialogue, and debate differentiate meetings where work gets done from time wasters that keep people from their work.

This session outlines seven ways that effective leaders encourage meeting dialogue...
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Too many meetings seem to be little more than people giving reports. These kind of meetings tend to focus on retrospective information (e.g. last month’s financial report or summaries of projects that people are doing outside of the meeting) - a formula for unproductive and boring meetings. Technology only amplifies bad meetings - who hasn’t narrowly escaped death by powerpoint?
Retrospective information can be useful, but in the most productive meetings participants focus on achieving outcomes that are prospective in nature: alignment, attunement, and action...

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Meetings are an inescapable part of any endeavor that involves more than one person.
Where meetings are effective, real work gets done.
Are meetings in your organization highly effective and need only maintenance and polishing? Or are they a disaster that people avoid? If they are anything less than the former, first ensure you routinely practice the seven basics covered in this podcast before working on anything else.
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What if meetings were something we bragged about? "Hey honey, we had the most awesome meeting at work today!"
All too often we brag about how bad they are. Stop complaining and start adding value. If you're in a leadership role teach others how to do the same. Here are seven ways how...

• Speak up but say something new.
• Learn to Summarize.
• Acknowledge Other People’s Contributions.
• Ask Good Questions.
• Check-in With the Group.
• Frame Issues for Results.
• Foster Accountability.
  

Article on Summarizing for Sharper Thinking

Your team sits around a conference table. You need some creative thinking, ideas that are original, fresh, engaging.
You say, “Give me your best thinking on…” or “What is your most creative solution to…”
What are the changes you’ll get back pretty conventional stuff? ...or blank stares?
The request for “best” and “most creative” ideas pre-supposes that any idea suggested must at least be good. Therefore, ideas that do not meet a conventional and quick analysis of ‘good’ are mentally screened out, both consciously and unconsciously.
A better method is to set up a scenario for generating LOTS of ideas, creative ideas – without screening for them to be ‘good’ ideas. Judgment, screening, and analysis are appropriate (and necessary) later, when it’s time to sort, choose, and apply ideas.
This coachcast covers techniques you can use for brainstorming to generate “off the wall” ideas that on later analysis may trigger useful insights.
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Leaders under-utilize facilitation techniques. Too often leaders have a one-size-fits-all approach to get input and discussion at meetings... the leader opens the floor for anyone who wants to speak. This approach is problematic when:

• either the leader and one or two people do all the talking, others rarely speak up;
• everyone participates in a freewheeling discussion and everything gets fully discussed, so the group runs out of time before getting to really important matters.

A few simple facilitation techniques, applied in the right circumstance can make these kind of meetings much more productive. These techniques are useful to bring balance to participation, to get meaningful input without taking a lot of time for discussion, and to separate what topics need deeper discussion from those that don’t.

Leaders are often reluctant to try these techniques, but doing so can give a huge boost to meeting productivity, not to mention reduce frustration of meeting participants. This week’s coachcast discusses seven facilitation techniques you can try at home... or at least at work:

1. Roundtable - the most basic technique get everyone to participate, go around the table and each person takes a turn speaking.
2. Check-In – a quick “how-are-we-doing” roundtable. When everyone uses their voice at the beginning of a meeting, they are more likely to continue participating. This technique is also useful in the middle and at the end of meetings.
3. Written List Roundtable - before the group starts, have everyone list their key ideas, points, etc. Then go around and let people say one idea at a time until all lists are exhausted. This techniques can help prevent one person from talking too much, and helps cut down or idea repetitions.
4. Top-Three Roundtable - great when there are diverse stakeholders and complex issues, in this roundtable each person is invited to present a limited number of key points in a limited time. (e.g., each person has three minutes to talk about their top three priorities.) Combined with flipcharts or index cards, this method can get everyone’s top ideas on the table for further grouping, sorting, or prioritizing as well as discussion.
5. Metric Roundtable - a roundtable where everyone is asked to rate an idea or proposal, typically on a 1-100, 1-10, or 1-5 scale.
6. Instant Metric - similar to the previous technique, but rather than a roundtable, everyone reveals their rating to the group at the same time. Ratings can be written on a sheet of paper, or a hand can show a 1-5 rating.
7. Three Buckets Instant Metric - a version of the instant metric, the group is asked whether they fully agree, disagree, or have questions by showing one, two, or three fingers (e.g. one=agree/positive, two=questions/mixed, and three=disagree/negative). This method lets the leader and group immediately know the level of agreement in the room. If everyone agrees (whether for or against), discussion won’t add much value. Limited discussion time can then be used for items where there are diverse opinions.

If you liked this coachcast, you'll love the resource guide...

Are meeting where real work takes place, or something that keeps people from getting work done?

This session provides you with questions to assess how your meetings are doing - your answers will inform you about where you need to use your influence to improve your meetings.


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