Tonia WilliamsCIO/IT Director| Housing Authority of the Cherokee NationTahlequah, Ok, United States
Some issues that I face as a project manager has to do with holding meetings. I tend to get into meeting where we go round and round, all healthy discussion but really do not come up with a straight answer for the most part. It always appears that by the end of the meeting, there are more questions than answers. For me, this problem is not necessarily our development group (although not to leave out) but getting buy in and information from our customers.
I remember reading a scenario that all holds true for many project managers. It went something like:
[Customer]: We need a blue rock.
[PM]: What size of Blue rock do you need?
[Customer]: A small blue Rock.
[PM]: What should the small blue rock look like?
[Customer]: It should be a small, blue and round rock.
[PM]: So what you are saying is you need is a blue marble?
The whole point being that the customer in this case really doesn't know what they need. Doing customer surveys and job shadowing is great but what about what happens in meetings? People feed off of each other and great ideas come from...great meetings.
But how do we have great meetings where the facilitator, who is most likely the PM, can pump up the group with excitement and get involvement (and buy in) from each person? How do we keep momentum going? Most of all, how do we get consensus on important issues where we have the answers we need at the end of each meeting. How to have an EFFECTIVE meeting?
Please share issues that you face with meetings. Then we can work on help.
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Tiana ConlonSr Program Manager| IndependantSomersworth, Nh, United States
Something I've done in this situation has worked well most of the time (though not always). Usually I do these types of meetings as weekly meetings, so what I'll do instead is 2 bi-weekly meetings, outlined as follows:
-Bi Weekly Status/Task Meeting
Go through items determined for the meeting agenda, gather statuses and when you get to an item that lends to discussion, give everyone 2 mintues to chat about then tell everyone it is on the list for next meeting. You need to be a little bit of a hammer to do it, but nothing major and people seem to do well with it as long as you follow through.
-Bi Weekly Discussion/Idea Generation or Working Meeting
All the items that require discussion and idea generation will be tabled for these meetings to work through these items. This gives people the collaborative idea generation they are looking for and makes them feel more involved in the planning (usually leading to more motivated/invested team members).
You can also put time limits on agenda items (which I've had to do plenty of times) when you reach that limit you move on and any extra meeting time at the end is dedicated to that topic, or it is tabled until the next meeting. People that need serious handholding might require this, but others tend to become demotivated...something to keep in mind.
When folks are unsure what they are looking for add an action item to their list to be accomplished by the next meeting. In the example you provided below I would ask that person to think about the blue rock and write down the following words: Who, What, When, Where, Why and How. Next to each of those words try to write as much that pertains to the blue rock they can think of. So for example, who needs the blue rock, who wants the blue rock, who makes the blue rock, etc. Hope some of this is helpful!
My personal meeting challenge is to hold a meeting to get something DONE or DECIDED. So many people want to come to a meeting, talk a while, but then go away as if nothing has happened.
This may be an "advanced" question, because I already do the typical things that you want to do to direct a meeting to a goal:
* Send an agenda with the invitation
* Send materials well ahead of time
* Follow up with people individually to ensure that they know what is expected of them at the meeting
* Send meeting minutes afterwards
Working at a Japanese company for several years, I learned that in that company that the meeting itself was not important, what mattered were the meetings BEFORE the meetings. Essentially, we had to get one-on-one sign-off and decisions from everyone at the meeting before the group meeting took place. That was the only way to get a productive meeting, with a decision at the end.
So far, I have not found anything that works better than what my Japanese friends have taught me. I found that their methods work for many different cultures, including the US, Japan, and some other central Asian countries. I am curious if anyone else in the group has some recommendations.
All the "meetings before the meeting" take a lot of work and a lot of time. Any faster methods would be greatly appreciated. Saving Changes...
Linda HillProgram Manager| MicrosoftRenton, Wa, United States
One of the ways I have learned to deal with these situations is when I send the meeting invitation, I start with a purpose statement. For example the purpose of this meeing is to do decide. . . or to approve . . . I also write this on a white board, or flip chart and review it as the first item and get agreement on it. Then whenenever we get off track, I restate the purpose. Once we get agreement, I go through the agenda and start the meeting. This works most of the time. Saving Changes...
Tiana ConlonSr Program Manager| IndependantSomersworth, Nh, United States
Alex,
I've worked in similar environments with pre and post meetings. I certainly understand the issue with time constraints. It may sound harsh, but in environments where people can not seem to make a decision I will sometimes call out in the team rules of engagement what the decision workflow is and put a time limit on these decisions by decision type. Say for example it is required to have a decision made within 24 hours of the meeting and nobody responds then you go the next level. In some cases all those decisions would be made by me if they did not get back within enough time. Others would be escalated per the rules of engagement of the project/program. I would generally send a sort of reminder or something as well just to try to not come across as harsh, but at times that is your only choice. Not the best answer, but it can work if needed. Hopefully we'll hear other good ways around this. Good luck!
Alex and Tiana have some great tips. Here are a few of mine to add to the discussion:
PM Checklist to Great Meetings
As a PM 90% of your job is communicating so walk around, visit your team member on their turf and also keep an “open door” policy. Let your team member’s drop in on you; this is where many issues can get worked out prior to the meeting so when you do meet you can have productive and engaging meetings. You know when you have conquered your meeting issues when your team hangs around just to talk after your meetings…
1. Create team ground rules and encourage your team to help build them – Buy-in
2. Setup regular face to face, virtual or stand up meetings with your teams – Builds trust, keeps your team connected on issues, risks and progress
3. Start your meetings on-time but be flexible
4. Make the best use of your team’s time – Setup teams for core team meetings with the customer, Technical meetings, Executive Sponsor meetings and PMO meetings. Everyone does not have to be in all meetings
5. Agenda, meeting minutes and action item list – be consistent and punctual with this information so your team stays informed
6. Facilitate your meeting and produce results – don’t allow your team to takeover your meetings but be flexible to allow conversations that need to occur. Take a class or read up on techniques you can put to use right away
7. The BIG three – keep your team focused by providing a current schedule, and an issue and risk log at your core team meeting – Review them with your team and ask for a status report out from a key member from each group
8. Keep your charter handy and remind your team what is in and out of scope etc. – your job is to help guide your team to stay focused on the goal
9. Make sure your sponsor stays involved and supports you and your team
10. Bring goodies for your team - make it a point to recognize and reward your team; acknowledgement goes a long way to maintaining a high performing team
Please share issues that you face with meetings. Then we can work on help.
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Common Issues in Meetings:
• Attendees showing up late or not at all
• Attendees not paying attention
• Attendees being disruptive
• Attendees taking over the meeting by discussing tangents or unrelated topics
• External disruptions (uninvited people, loud commotions, constant interruptions from outside parties)
Rather than calling these items Issues, let’s call them symptoms. Even though a cigar is sometimes a cigar, sometimes it is something more. Why is that one person always late, or disruptive? If you fix the issue are you solving the problem or just solving the symptom, thereby hiding the problem until it reveals itself in another, possibly worse manner?
The point I am getting to is that facilitating a meeting is not just about facilitating what goes on in the room during the timebox on the calendar. Yes, you need to keep attendees’ attention. Yes, you need to control disruption and tangents. But this starts before the meeting does, sometimes well in advance.
Alex makes a good point (not just Alex, his just relates better to the following). There can be a lot of pre-work to an effective meeting. I don’t usually go to the extent that Alex describes, but I do find it helpful to set expectations and the agenda prior to the meeting. I also create the agenda with the input of the key stakeholders that will be or have representation in the meeting.
For the past 2 years, I have been something of an account/program/project manager for IT initiatives for an affiliate in Mexico. I inherited a weekly status meeting from my predecessor, and it quickly became obvious that the meetings were somewhat ineffective. We have a running list of initiatives, and would spend majority of the meeting reading out on status. A successful meeting was one where we made it all the way through the list in the allotted time because we did not spend too much time actually discussing the issues.
Needless to say, it did not take me long to decide that a weekly status meeting with the people actually doing the work was pointless. My first step was to change the meeting to bi-weekly, but I still did not like the format. Our process, now, is for everyone with something to report on to give me status prior to the meeting so that I can update the status report. I also ask for agenda items in advance. Then, during the meeting, we discuss any outstanding questions about the status of specific items and focus on key issues and initiatives, making the meetings much more productive. If someone has a topic to discuss that they did not request to place on the agenda, it goes to the end of the list unless the group agrees that it should be discussed sooner.
A “parking lot” is, in my opinion, an under-utilized tool in meetings. No matter how well you define the purpose for a meeting and no matter how far in advance you share it, people will still have their own agendas and opinions that they want to express. Often, the most adamant people just want to be acknowledged. They don’t really want to take over the meeting; they just want to feel that their opinion has been heard. A highly visible parking lot, such as a whiteboard or easel pad, can help keep tangent discussions under control. Whether the topics on the parking lot are discussed at the end of the meeting or in a different meeting is something that can be decided when an item is placed on the white board.
In closing, if you are having issues in your meetings, ask yourself if they are related to the meeting or if they are part of a larger concern. I work in an environment with a very strong incident/crisis management focus, and my stakeholders do not always seem to have consistent expectations of project managers. I find that facilitating meetings is often more about managing expectations than anything else. Saving Changes...
Linda HillProgram Manager| MicrosoftRenton, Wa, United States
Using a "parking lot" has been successful for me. It is a good way of acknowledging someone's concern, issues, etc. and it makes them feel that they have been heard. Once a person feels that they have been heard, they can usually move on. Saving Changes...
Aaron:
I agree on most of your points and think that the items listed are symptoms but another view is that a PM should not have to wear his or her "hero cape" and go around to solve everyone's problems. Also, there are many team members who will grandstand, bring in their own agendas and want control for their idea and want to divert attention from meeting project goals for many reasons. Many PM's work in matrix organizations, work on virtual teams, work on multiple projects and are not always colocated to allow face to face meetings so a PM must be resourceful and flexible to a point.
A PM should focus on the the issues at hand, the team members that are present and participating and work to motivate those that are diverting any attention away from successful progress and performance of the project or projects at the same time they keep their STARS motivated. This takes time and energy for a PM. Resources that are not performing, are doing more storming than norming and performing and are not completing tasks and deliverables on time are a risk to any project. Steps should be taken to first mitigate and minimize these disruptions. If after these efforts fail, raise these issues to the sponsor and functional manager because this is where a PM must rely on support.
Also, a PM should validate at the end of each meeting how things went and what can be improved so continuous improvement is essential to fine tuning meeting success.
My approach is similar to the way Linda has described it. A formal structured meeting approach a clear objective\purpose for the meeting taking place. Working through an Agenda steers the meeting in the right direction and everyone who is present is clear about what is being discussed and how they can contribute. Whenever possible time the agenda items and try to end without overlaps; A long meeting can become a little tiresome and attendees switch off not actually paying attention to what is being said. Ensure you have the right audience 'who should attend and why'. Saving Changes...
Vasoula's reply gave me another thought. Sometimes the best meeting is to have no meeting at all.
When I get stuck trying to understand customer needs, a lot of time I cancel the typical, formal, group meetings. Instead I come to their desk and we talk about what they do every day. Sometimes I follow them around for half-a-day, just seeing what they need to do to complete a certain process.
A lot of time the "what do you require" questions go nowhere. Sometimes observation does a lot better.
This is not a quick answer to the problem, though. A lot of times you need to follow a lot of people around for a long time to really understand a complex set of work. A large-group meeting can be more efficient to discover the rules and nature of the work. When the meetings fail, though, direct observation can save the day. Saving Changes...
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