Phil: Ok, so we all know what a bad meeting looks like. There’s a lack of organization and structure, people talking over one another, and nothing gets accomplished. It’s not pretty! And frankly, bad meetings are a waste of all of our time. Laura: But here’s a question for you: have you ever been to a GOOD meeting? If you have, take a moment to think about what went well at that meeting. Chances are there was a strong presence of those two key ingredients we recommend: a working structure and good working relationships! Phil: By no means is having a good meeting impossible- in fact, it’s well within your reach.

In this module, we’ll provide a number of concrete guidelines you can follow in order to maximize your meeting effectiveness. Laura: The first thing every functioning committee should have is a set of established ground rules. These are agreed-upon guidelines for the group’s behavior, and can include things like “no sidebar conversations,” “stay solution focused,” or “refrain from using your cell phone at the meeting.” One great way to establish your committee’s ground rules is to solicit input from members about what should be included. This increases buy-in and encourages adherence. Ground rules should be posted somewhere in the room where everyone can see them, and should be reviewed at the beginning of meetings, when there are new members present or when they are broken during a discussion.

Phil: The next element to a well-run meeting is the Roadmap Agenda. Using this tool is probably the most important strategy to keeping your labor-management committee meetings on track. The Roadmap is available to you as a form that you prepare partially before the meeting, and complete as the discussion unfolds. Agenda items are listed at the beginning of each row, and then are followed by the desired outcome, the decision making process that will be used, materials needed, and time allotted for each item. Besides being an essential tool for structuring the meeting, the Roadmap provides a visual representation of the discussion for everyone on the committee. On the back of the Roadmap is an area to chart Action Items. This is essentially a “To Do” list that comes out of your discussion, and will help turn your committee’s ideas into achievements.

Laura: Another key ingredient to running an effective meeting is making sure that you have people assigned to and performing three critical roles: the Facilitator, the Timekeeper, and the Recorder. Phil: Let’s hear a little bit from our friends on the committee about what each of these positions entails. Alex: I’m the Facilitator. My job is to manage the agenda and the conversation. I use the Roadmap throughout the meeting to keep us on track and focused. If we find ourselves off on a tangent, I’ll suggest that we “park” that issue and come back to it later. Periodically, I summarize the discussion to make sure we’re all on the same page. When the allotted time for an agenda item has been reached, I’ll encourage the group to bring the discussion to a close, and either come to a decision or return to the item at our next meeting. I also help the recorder capture key ideas and action items.

Since part of my role is managing conversational traffic, I try to pose questions for the group to answer, and make sure that no one is talking too much or too little. If certain members are dominating the discussion, I’ll conduct a brainstorming go-around, where I ask each person to contribute their ideas and point of view. If things get heated in a debate, I’ll remind people of the ground rules we’ve all agreed on. One thing that’s a challenge when playing my role is distinguishing when I’m acting as Facilitator, and when I’m contributing as a committee member. I make a consistent effort to be clear about this so that I don’t give my own feelings on an issue unfair emphasis.

In fact, if there’s a topic I feel particularly strong about, I’ll let someone else try their hand at facilitating, so that I can participate fully in the dialogue. Devin: I’m the Timekeeper. My primary duty is to keep track of the time according to the limits specified in the Roadmap. I don’t just wait until the end and announce, “time’s up!” Then we’d never have a chance to reach closure. Instead, I give regular updates to the group so they know how much time has been spent and is remaining on any particular agenda item. My job is important because it keeps us on track, ensures that we don’t get derailed talking about one topic for too long, and that every agenda item gets the proper attention it deserves. Jordan: I’m the Recorder. I’m there to capture the committee’s ideas, decisions, and action items in writing. It’s important to get things on record, so if I’m having trouble keeping up, I have the power to stop the conversation to clarify what’s being said to catch up on my notes. There are many different ways to record information at a meeting: by hand, on a laptop, or even using a flipchart to display ideas to the group.

I choose the method that makes the most sense in a given situation. What do I write down? Well, the agenda items on the Roadmap serve as my main headings. Under those, I list key discussion points for each issue and record the decision that’s ultimately made. I’m not really catching every little thing someone says, just key points in the discussion. I don’t identify discussion points by speaker, because it’s more important to capture what is said than who said what. After a decision is made on a topic, I use the chart on the back of the Roadmap to track Action Items as they’re agreed upon. Here, it is important to name names. I note the responsible party and the deadline for completion.

Also, at the end of an agenda item discussion, I’ll recap my notes to check that I captured everything correctly. After the meeting, I circulate the notes I’ve taken as quickly as possible, so that all committee members can have a record of our discussions. Laura: Any of your LMC members can play any of those roles at a meeting. Phil: In fact, it’s encouraged to change things up so you can give all members on both sides the chance to try out each role.

Laura: The variety will keep your meetings fresh and maximize participation. Phil: So, we’ve talked about a number of key ingredients to running effective meetings: posting ground rules, using the Roadmap, and making sure you have a facilitator, timekeeper, and recorder. Laura: Now, our friends on the committee are going to help demonstrate some of these best practices in action. In this scenario, we’ll be functioning as a Level Three strategic committee, so this should be fun. Alex: I’d like to thank everyone for being here today. And most of you know this already, but since Casey’s still relatively new I’d like to remind us all that our agreed-upon ground rules are posted on the wall over here. And while the enthusiasm of last meeting was great, let’s try to remember the “listen before we speak” rule. Ok, so you have your Roadmaps, and you’ll notice that the first item on our agenda is to continue the discussion that we started last time on training. Jordan, would you give us a summary on what we’ve discussed so far? Jordan: Sure. We were challenged by the executive level to think about how to provide continuing development for supervisors.

And through our focus group, we identified content areas our managers feel they could most benefit from, these included communication skills, managing performance, and workload prioritization. Today, we need to follow through with our action item that we set up at our last meeting. Chris was going to report back today about pursuing an outside agency that could provide the training. Devin: And then we have 15 minutes to come up with the best format for delivery.

Alex: Great. So, Chris, were you able to investigate whether Skill Source had the curriculum offerings we were looking for? Chris: Yes. And the answer is, “Yes, they do.” I looked at the budget and they’re well within the allocated range, and since they’re the training company of choice, I think it’s a no-brainer. Alex: Excellent! Jaime: How long is each of these courses? Chris: They’re two hours each. Alex: Ok, so if we decide to move forward with this curriculum, the question then becomes what is the best way for us to deliver? Should we offer them one at a time, or say, a whole day of training to attend all three? Laura: Well, from a director-level perspective, that’s really difficult to release my people for a whole entire day.

Devin: But, it’s really hard to go to training for just a few hours and then be expected to retain any of it when you have to go right back to work. Jordan: In that sense, I do agree. I think it might be best to separate supervisors from the workplace so they can really focus on skills development. Casey: Plus, I can see that improving morale, especially if you bring them someplace cool. Phil: That’s true. There’s no reason we couldn’t do the training someplace fun, make it something people want to do, like have training on a boat… Jaime: Or on the beach! Casey: Or a theme park! Alex: Ok, ok, I love the enthusiasm, but let’s take this one step at a time. Jordan: Yeah, let, let me catch up. Are we saying that we’re in agreement that the training should take place off-site? Laura: Yeah I guess I can see the benefits. Alex: OK so it sounds like we’re agreed. It is the best way for them to focus, retain information, and will improve morale.

Um, so now we can tackle how to conduct the training. Devin, how much time do we have left? Devin: Ten minutes. Alex: So let’s take five minutes to do a quick brainstorming go-round and come up with some places that we could conduct this training off-site, and then we’ll still have five minutes to decide and plan next steps. Phil: Wow. Leaves you wanting to see more, right? Laura: I’d go to that meeting. The ground rules were posted, the Roadmap Agenda was utilized, and we saw people taking on the key responsibilities of Facilitator, Timekeeper, and Recorder. Phil: That’s right. This committee is making very effective use of its time, and maximizing input from its members. And because they’re running so effectively, they’re able to spend time on fun, strategic issues like this one. Laura: And you know what? Your committee can get here, too. Follow the best practices outlined in this module, and soon your LMC will be operating like a well-oiled machine..