Leading Meetings That Matter

If you're interested in the issue of making your meetings more productive - and given their importance to community and organisational development you probably should be - this recently published book (Don't Just Do Something Stand There! Ten Principles For Leading Meetings That Matter) is a classic.

I don't know of 2 people better experienced than Marv Weisbord and Sandra Janoff to tell us about how to do what the subject of this post suggests.

There are dozens of gems in this book. Here's one to try.

One of the critical issues with leading productive meetings is getting the right people in the room. How do you decide on who the right people are?

First you need to be totally clear on the purpose of the meeting. Once that's done, Marv and Sandra suggest applying the acronym ARE IN which stands for:

• Authority to act (eg decision making responsibility)
• Resources such as contacts, time or money
• Expertise in the issues to be considered
• Information about the topic that no others have
• Need to be involved because they will be affected by the outcomes and can speak to the consequences

Identify the people who meet these criteria and you've got your ideal attendees.

Comments

[Wendy Foster]

Yes – those many meetings! I agree that there are too many hours wasted by those who have not clearly identified why they are holding the meeting and what they want to achieve from it. I like the “ARE” acronym – very relevant and really, just common sense. Nonetheless, it might take a while with a community before participants build rapport with each other, and that is really what it is all about, so take time – and more importantly – GIVE time to get to know each other and understand the influencing factors for everyone.

[Joe Bowers]

Important points Wendy. Sometimes it takes a few stages over a period of time.