Course Description
Learn to align meeting designs with project or business requirements
Set the parameters of team and stakeholder expectations prior to meetings
Establish effective team behaviors in different types of meetings
Identify common meeting execution problems and deal with them in real-time
Learn to classify team member behaviors and respond to them in the most appropriate fashion
Make mundane meetings into effective team-building sessions
Turn any meeting into an efficient problem-solving session
Design the meeting that satisfies your requirements
Understand the characteristics of a well-written agenda
Ensure everyone comes to your meetings with all necessary information
Know when to schedule a meeting, and when not to
Learn your strengths and weaknesses as a meeting facilitator, and how to capitalize on the former and counter the latter
Learn how to effectively draw out information from reluctant meeting members
Handle emergency meetings, keeping every ones "eye on the ball"
Know when you should and should not allow meeting members to make team decisions
Teach your team members how to properly respond to informational meetings
Negotiate rather than saying "no"
Start and finish meetings on-time
Teach team members to actively listen both in and out of meetings
Prevent the "Know-it-All" or "Steamroller" from taking over your meeting
Stop destructive team behaviors stemming from "Snipers"
Effectively communicate with project stakeholders at all levels
Build team cohesion through negotiating buy-in
Coordinate your meetings with your communications management plan
Maximize your meeting's productivity with effective follow-up
Give and receive effective criticism
Ensure meeting action items are accomplished on time and within budget
Agenda
1. The Communications Model
The Feedback Model: Use your knowledge of communications to aid understanding
Channels of Communication: Understand that you communicate at many different levels
Channel Conflict: What happens when the message sent at the different channels conflict with one another
Reinforcing Your Message Through Channels: If channel conflict detracts from the underlying message, ensuring channel congruence reinforces and enhances understanding
Choosing your Channels: Determine what channels of communication work best for you
Exercise: Reinforcing with Channels
2. Effective Listening
Active Listening Techniques: Utilize attending skills, restatement, summarization, and open-ended questions to help a speaker get the message across
The Challenges to Active Listening: Understand where active listening can go awry, and what can be done to prevent it
Exercise: Active Listening
3. Effective Feedback
Planning for Effective Feedback: Know the four elements that are a part of effective feedback
Delivering Feedback: Learn how to "script" your presentation in order to make it work
Dealing with Digressions: Nobody likes negative feedback; Learn how to deal with digressions and sidetracks
Exercise: Delivering Effective Feedback
4. Types of Meetings
Informational: Encouraging active listening in a meeting presentation
Discussion: Lead meetings that encourage and support participation from everyone
Decision: When to, and when not to, use group-decision meetings; Understand the role of decision meetings in team building and leadership
Emergency: Lead meetings that confront the emergency rather than point fingers and assign blame
Virtual Meetings: Use the technology wisely, while understanding the special pitfalls of virtual meetings
Conference Calls: Understand the how communication channels can work for, and against, you
Joint Application Development: When is it used and how will you use it?
Exercise: Choosing the Meeting Type
5. Meeting Design and Planning
Meeting Logistics: Get the parts aligned-where will you meet, when will you meet, and so forth
Preparing the Agenda: Coordinate presentations, materials, and times
Inviting Participation: Differentiate between who needs to be at a meeting and who does not
Handouts and Readings: If it is important enough to discuss, should it be sent out in advance? Ensure that participants are ready in advance
Exercise: Creating the Meeting Agenda
6. Presentation Skills
Posture, Poise, and Presence: Reinforce your position as a leader using "stage presence"
Time Management: Keeping your presentation simple, focused, and straightforward
Handouts: When you do and do not use handouts; Rules and guidelines for handouts
Slides and Audio-Visuals: Overemphasizing the technology of the presentation can not only backfire, it can crash and burn; Drive the visuals, don't let them drive you
Communicating with the Non-Technical Audience: Acronyms and buzzwords may aid communications between tech types, but they are a formidable barrier for communicating with non-technical participants. Learn how to remove these barriers from your presentation
Exercise: Making a Presentation
7. Facilitating Tools
Facilitating: Understanding the advantages and disadvantages of facilitating vs. leading a meeting
Negotiating: Reaching agreement can not only solve problems, it can build teams and reinforce leadership positions
Brainstorming: Encourage the possibilities and keep negative attitudes from derailing your meeting
The Power of Open-Ended Questions: Asking the right sort of question at the right time can keep the creative process going
Exercise: Negotiating to No
8. Conflict Resolution
Meeting Pitfalls: What do you do when the right people are not on time? When people come unprepared? When time constraints are not honored?
Handling Difficult Participants: Deal effectively with the "Steamroller," the "Sniper," and a whole host of other "problem children"
Giving and Receiving Criticism: Criticism can result in growth, but not if it is poorly given or received; Learn how to structure criticism that solves the problem but doesn't hurt the receiver
Delivering Bad News: Bad news happens; How to deliver bad news in such a way that you don't complicate an already unfortunate situation
Exercise: The Combative Attendee
9. Meeting Follow-up
Assigning Responsibility: Make sure you cover all the elements of assigning action items
Action Items: Using deliverables to ensure prompt and correct action
Documentation and Minutes: Nobody wants to do minutes, nobody wants to read minutes; Ensure that your minutes are done, done correctly, and followed up on in a timely fashion
Exercise: Including action items in Minutes
10. The Role of Meetings in the Communications Plan
The Project Communications Plan: What is a project communications plan and how does it support you in stakeholder management
Stakeholder Analysis: Determine how to manage different types of stakeholders
Meeting with Key Stakeholders: The role of negotiation and strategy in managing your stakeholders
Exercise: Evaluating Key Stakeholders
11. Team Building through Meetings
Opportunities for Team Building: Recognize when a team-building moment occurs and how to take advantage of it
Leadership Roles: Yours and Theirs: All teams have multiple leadership positions, both formal and informal; Use meetings to identify and assign leadership positions
Exercise: Designing the Team Building Plan
Audience
Managers
Supervisors
Project managers
Team leaders
Program managers
Functional managers
Business analysts
Anyone in a team environment wishing to communicate more effectively and improve meeting performance