Effective Team Meetings

1. Effective Team Meetings

2. “Too Many Meetings!” If meetings are important for planning, decision-making, and problem-solving what goes wrong in meetings that contributes to this often heard remark?

3. Common Elements of Ineffective Meetings • Lack of clarity about meeting goals • A vague or non-existent agenda • No time limits on discussions • No discernible process for working important issues • No facilitation of discussions • People are not prepared • Discussions go in circles

4. Common Elements of Ineffective Meetings • Lack of closure to discussions • People vehemently arguing points of view rather than debating ideas • A few people dominating while others sit passively • Meetings that end without detailed action plans for agreed-upon next steps • Absence of any process checking of the meeting as it unfolds, or evaluation at the end Too many meetings!!

5. Effective Meetings Are Managed Events – They Don’t Just Happen.

6. How do we ensure our meetings will be successful? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OQFfw-Wh-4E

7. Common Elements of Effective Meetings • Detailed agenda • Clear Starting & Ending Times • What will be discussed • Who owns the agenda item • How long each item will take • Sent to Mrs. Marshall one day before your meeting • Assigned roles • Team Leader, Facilitator, Scribe, Timekeeper

8. Common Elements of Effective Meetings • Group norms • Created by the members • Posted in the meeting location • Team Leader should ask if everyone can support these norms before each meeting • Confront behaviors that violate the norms • Revise norms as needed • Discuss norms with new members • Create your norms in next meeting and submit with your minutes

9. Common Elements of Effective Meetings • Effective member behaviors • Remain positive about change • Don’t have to agree, just be agreeable • Participate actively and willingly • Specific follow-up plans (Assign Responsibilities) • Bin List/Parking Lot • Post-meeting evaluation • Plus/Delta (assign an owner) • Survey/Checklist

10. Leave Time at the End of the Meeting for FeedbackWhat went well?What should we improve for next time? How well are we meeting our objectives?What do we need to do better? Assign roles for next meeting. If you don’t do this your meetings will never get any better.

12. What does this have to do with me?

13. Effective Team Leaders • Confronting and Caring • Confront team members who go astray • Set ground rules and use to point out errant behavior • Use humor, if possible • Don’t let errant behavior go unaddressed, address it early and monitor closely • Care for team members • Let team members know they are valued • Celebrate successes & learn from failures as a team • Never be derogatory or demeaning toward each other • Use humor to acknowledge and relieve tension

14. Effective Team Leaders • Recognize that not everyone knows how to be a team player • Display self-sacrificing behavior and self-confidence • Encourage norms that positively affect the team’s goals and alter those that are negative • Are adaptive, knowing when to play different roles • Observe with a keen eye what’s going on in the team

15. Encourage Participation Through Hooks and Responses Let me build on that . . . What I like about that . . . What I hear you saying . . . How wouldwe. . . Help me understand . . . I wish I knew what . . . Can you say more about that . . .

16. “The most important thing in communication is to hear what isn’t being said.”Peter Drucker(1909 - 2005)

17. Symptoms of Group Dysfunction: • One member dominates others • Poor idea development will occur • Disagreements decreasing productivity • Silence is the norm • Members do not attend meetings or disrupt when they do attend • You wish you were in another team • No one acknowledges that the team has a problem

18. How To Be An EffectiveTeam Member With so many personality styles, communication styles and “dysfunctions”, people have to learn HOW to be an effective team member.

19. How To Be An Effective Team Member • The best team members are skilled at assuming multiple roles, stepping up to do whatever it takes to get the job done on time -without breaking the rules. • They are autonomous and self-sufficient. • An effective team member does not require a supervisor to constantly hover over them or play the role of referee, parent or firefighter”. • They are self-managed.

20. Ten Qualities of an EffectiveTeam Player • Demonstrate reliability • You get the job done and you do your fair share to work hard and meet your commitment. • Communicate constructively • Teams need people who speak up and express their thoughts and ideas clearly, directly, honestly, and with respect for others and for the work of the team.

21. Ten Qualities of an EffectiveTeam Player • Listen actively • Teams need team players who can absorb, understand, and consider ideas and points of view from other people without debating and arguing every point. • Function as an active participant • They come prepared for team meetings and listen and speak up in discussions. They are fully engaged in the work of the team and do not sit passively on the sidelines.

22. Ten Qualities of an EffectiveTeam Player • Share openly and willingly • They are willing to share information, knowledge, and experience. They take initiative to keep other team members informed. • Cooperate and pitch in to help • Good team players, despite differences they may have with other team members concerning style and perspective, figure out ways to work together to solve problems and get the work done.

23. Ten Qualities of an EffectiveTeam Player • Exhibit flexibility • A good team member can consider different points of views and compromise when needed. He or she doesn’t hold rigidly to a point of view and argue it to death, especially when the team needs to move forward to make a decision or get something done. • Work as a problem-solver • They’re problem-solvers, not problem-dwellers, problem-blamers, or problem-avoiders. They don’t simply rehash a problem the way dwellers do. They don’t look for others to fault, as the blamers do. …and they don’t put off dealing with issues, the way avoiders do.

24. Ten Qualities of an EffectiveTeam Player • Treat others in a respectful and supportive manner • They don’t place conditions on when they’ll provide assistance, when they’ll choose to listen, and when they’ll share information. • Show commitment to the team • Team players with commitment look beyond their own piece of the work and care about the team’s overall work. In the end, their commitment is about winning- not in the sports sense of beating your opponent but about seeing the team succeed and knowing they have contributed to this success.

25. What do youneed to work productivelyin your grade level/dept teams this year?