Volume 7, 2007

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Featured Topic: Meetings

Inside This Issue

A Lot of Information in a Short Amount of Time

Meetings that focus on solutions or idea generation can easily get off track.  Too many times one person offers a suggestion only to have it hammered down by someone else.  Other times the group likes the idea and spends the rest of their valuable time working on the details, never considering other ideas that remain unspoken.

Creating ideas is a right hemisphere function.  Judging them is a left hemisphere function.  There is a tool that allows both hemispheres to do their thing in the correct sequence: brainstorm.  Think about that name.  It is not called brain-shower, rather it is to be a storm of ideas coming quickly and out of no where. 

Brainstorm sessions allow the participants to use their right hemispheres to create ideas without editing from the left hemispheres.  The brainstorm session is broken into two segments:

Guidelines for the right hemisphere downloading

Guidelines for the left hemisphere judging

Use this tool to gather a lot of information in a short amount of time.  Everyone is included and your people will leave knowing they have contributed and accomplished a great deal.

What Our Clients Are Saying

FYI - I put TLC on my resume as professional development. They asked what it was exactly. It was very cool to explain how it helped me communicate with others’ behavioral styles.

Carey Ely, Chattanooga, TN

Want to Evaluate Your Meetings?

At TLC, we have developed a detailed feedback form that members of a meeting can complete to give you feedback.  If you would like a free copy, email us at tlc@talklisten.com with the subject line: meeting feedback.  We will also send you the score sheet so you can see how your meeting measured up.  We ask that the TLC information remain on the form to retain our intellectual property rights.

Comment From a Reader

Good comments in CEO corner. One more thing to gripe about: Sometimes I get emails from good intentioned folks who want to get me up to speed on an email "conversation" they have been having with someone or a group of people about a concern.

I will scroll down to the beginning, which occurred two weeks ago, and they expect me to read all of these back-and-forth emails.

I pick up the phone and ask for a summary version of the issue in 25 words or less.

Doug Swafford, Chattanooga, TN

Are Your Meetings "Above Board"?

Have you ever heard the expression, “above board”?  If someone said you were being “above board,” that is a good thing.

The expression, “above board,” means you are being honest and clear in what you say.  In our office meetings, sometimes people are not, “above board.”  But what does a board and being above it have to do with being honest?  We will be “above board” and tell you right now.

This idiom (commonly used expression) dates back to the British parliament several centuries ago.  Delegates assembled in meetings.  Each person sat in front of a large, solid table.  Observers from the audience were only able to see each person from the table (or board) and up.  This allowed only the delegate’s upper body to be seen and delegates could easily conceal revealing negative, lower body movements.

Our bodies today, and even 1,000 years ago, react in the same way under stressful conditions. According to behavioral science, 55% of our communication is from our body language, wow!

The most common give – a – way revealing we are uncomfortable is when we shuffle our feet or nervously fidget. This nervousness is just energy.  Several thousand years ago, when we needed that lower body energy to run from Saber-tooth tigers, that extra energy came in handy. But today, while sitting in boardrooms and meetings for sometimes hours, that energy can make us restless.

During your meetings, to control high emotions, move! Stand up, walk around, or just write down what you’d like to say and put it in the form of a question or a solution-focused statement. This will keep you focused on the task while allowing you to release that boiling energy.

Make Meetings Matter

Vincent Ivan Phipps

Sometimes the most effective way to kill a good idea is to continuously meet about it.

At TLC, our client’s tell us they feel that 60% of the time they spend in their organization’s meetings is wasted.

Improve the efficiency of your next meeting by following the guidelines about the 3 most important phases of a meeting:

1. Pre–Meeting: Efforts made before the meeting.

Determine if the goal can be accomplished without meeting. Use phone conferencing, board posting, or informative emails providing options.

Request input from potential attendees in order to identify key points of interest for the meeting. Then set an agenda, including the purpose, and send it to all attendees before the meeting begins.

2. Present Meeting: The format of what is conducted during the meeting.

Start and end on time.

Re-distribute the agenda that includes the meeting’s purpose, and what each person will be expected to contribute.

Assign “next steps” and “who’s responsible” assignments before concluding points.

3. Post–Meeting: Follow up efforts after the meeting.

Send an executive summary (minutes) of decisions made.

Follow up on important topics to address any questions or provide reassurance.

Meetings can be time consuming, boring, energy draining, and expensive; yet they are important and are an intrinsic part of our professional culture. Meetings are not going away; therefore, let’s improve how we have them.

To maximize the efficiency of your meetings, call the experts at TLC, Talk Listen Communicate, 423-622-8255 (TALK) or visit us at www.talklisten.com.

To learn more about how to improve the meetings with your team, visit the following TLC link: http://www.talklisten.com/seminars/?id=6

Dear TLC

My office has become saturated with unnecessary meetings. It seems as if we have meetings to discuss future meetings. I know a gathering of the minds is important.  As I dislike meetings, what can I do, as head of my department, to improve the long, mundane meetings we have avalanched into?

Signed,
-Mad at Meetings

Dear Mad at Meetings,

Other members of your department probably share you concerns.  Here are some suggestions:

  1. For the regular status and update meetings, send emails and ask for replies with questions or suggestions.
  2. For meetings required in person, have stand up meetings with no food. People are more productive on their feet when there is nothing to snack on.
  3. Tell participants the purpose of the meeting and strive to organize important points to keep things clear and simple.
  4. Request 360 feed back about suggestions on improving meetings. Listen and incorporate as many of the suggestions as you are able.

If you have to meet, make it matter!

Happy Birthday

TLC wishes a Happy Birthday to clients celebrating in the month of July:

Featured Service - Meeting Facilitation

Therese Padgett

Many of our corporate clients, as well as professional organizations, have engaged Beverly Inman-Ebel, TLC’s Chief Executive Officer, to facilitate important meetings. The word, “facilitate,” means to free from difficulties or obstacles; make easier; aid; assist.

Primarily, facilitation hinges on purpose. The facilitator engages the person who is to call the meeting in clearly defining the goal or goals to be achieved. If a leader is unclear as to his purpose, you can imagine the chaos and frustration among the participants once they get together!

Accountability is another area explored through the facilitator. Who is responsible for what reports/needed information? Who will make sure the seating arrangements are conversational and the facilities are comfortable? What are the time constraints? Who needs to be in attendance and who does not need to be there?

Armed with this information, the facilitator helps the leader prepare an agenda. The facilitator helps “time-box” the points on the agenda and probes with the leader to determine those participants who may be called upon to lead certain discussion points. Next, and this is most important, the agenda is distributed to all invited to the meeting, well in advance. It is also a good idea to send an email reminder to everyone at least 24-hours pre-meeting. This way, everyone comes to the meeting on time and prepared to actively participate.

At the meeting, the facilitator becomes the “time-keeper” and “referee.” A volunteer scribe may be solicited from among the group. As agenda items come forward, the facilitator explains time allowances and procedures; then the discussion begins. The facilitator times-out participants and moves the discussion to the next person. She also notes when someone passes and prevents them from passing a second time, making sure that all have contributions. She makes sure that all agenda items are covered in the time allocated and that the meeting ends when promised.

Feedback can come in a variety of forms and from a variety of people. The best feedback you can get is the timely accomplishment of your goals. Here is a recent feedback Beverly received from Chirag Chaman after a meeting she facilitated in New York:  “Thank you again for a wonderful job (facilitating) last Thursday — it was one of the smoothest focus groups I've been involved with.”

When you want your next important meeting to be the “smoothest” and free of difficulties and obstacles, call Beverly at TLC, 1-888-BECAUSE (because you always communicate) to talk about meeting facilitation. You’ll be glad you did!

CEO Corner

Beverly Inman-Ebel

Chief Executive Opinion

Meetings are expensive, both in time and dollars spent.  They are also important to gather ideas, make decisions, and recognize accomplishments.  Since meetings are costly and imperative, it only makes sense to make them matter.

In my opinion, relationships form the foundation for meetings.  I recently facilitated an important meeting for OPEN, American Express in New York City.  A lot of planning by many people went into this event to make it a success.  Twenty key customers were attending.  I requested their bios and pictures before the meeting.  As I flew from Oregon to Denver, and then from Denver to New York, I drilled myself on knowing who these customers were, studied their respected businesses, and memorized their faces.  When they arrived, I was able to introduce myself as their facilitator, calling them by name and asking them a question about their business.  By the end of the day, several of them commented to me how amazed they were that I seemed to know them so well, and never missed a name, even when calling out names quickly.

Knowing someone is part of forming a relationship with them.  The week before my trip to New York, I met with two different banking institutions to discuss obtaining a loan in order to purchase new equipment.  The first visit was with a banker I have known for about 15 years.  I have three accounts with his bank. After making me wait for 15 minutes from the time of our appointment, he requested numerous documents, asked me to personally guarantee the loan, and seemed hesitant.  He eventually said, “I hate to admit it, but banking now a days is all about numbers.”  I responded, “Really? I think it should be about relationships.”  He readily admitted that relationships do count and then went on to say how he valued women business owners, unlike many bankers.  I bit my tongue to keep from quoting the statistics on the success of women business owners.  I left feeling measured, as though my 26 years in business was devalued.

I immediately went to the next banker with whom I have two accounts. I had never met him. He was waiting for me at the door and engaged me in conversation about what TLC did.  He responded that he did not need any additional financial information and gave me multiple options for financing the equipment loan.

Who do I have the better relationship with?  The second banker cared enough to make me feel like a customer.  And that is the one I will do business with.

When meetings matter, make sure you develop a relationship with the people attending.  Businesses don’t do business with other businesses.  Rather, people in those businesses do business with you.  In meetings, people matter.  Get to know them and live your dreams!

TLC establishes long-term relationships with our clients. If we have helped you or if you believe our approach to change would work for someone you know, please request a proposal or phone 1-888-232-2873. We work with individuals and groups on the following subject areas: attitude, listening, body language, voice, leadership, compliments and corrections, behavioral style, teamwork, effective meetings, public speaking, accent reduction and much more!.

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