On average, 30-60% of our working time is spent in meetings. A basic building block for working with others, meetings are one of the most frequent ways that we get things done together. Recently several clients asked for my advice about how to improve their meetings. I began writing this post to answer their questions, and discovered just how much I take for granted about designing and facilitating effective meetings. Since this is such a broad topic, this is the first of several posts to help you optimize your investment in meetings.

This is not your usual list of meeting dos and don’ts such as:

• Have an objective and an agenda
• Stick to a schedule – Start and end on time
• Ban personal technology – Ask people to silence their devices
• Establish ground rules
• Solicit participation

While important, these are simply “basic meeting hygiene” tips; they don’t set you up for consistently effective meetings. By effective I mean meetings that accomplish their purpose and desired outcomes, and where the participants have had a positive experience and feel that their time and energy were well invested.

The key to holding effective meetings is to use a robust repeatable process, without which your investment is at risk.  Meetings are one of the most basic business processes, and a component of many organizational processes.  Like all business processes, if you design in quality, you are more likely to get a quality outcome.

Right now you may be saying to yourself, “What’s the big deal?  I plan and lead meetings all the time. There’s nothing difficult about this.” I agree that it’s not difficult. But it does take careful planning and consistent attention before, during, and after the meeting.  Now ask yourself, at how many meetings do you hear others remark, “That was a good meeting. We accomplished what we set out to do and we used our time well.”

How Well Do You Plan and Facilitate Meetings?

Take a quick assessment:

For each question below, score yourself using the following scale:
Never = 1
Rarely = 2
Sometimes = 3
Often = 4
Always = 5

1. When I plan a meeting I start by thinking through the outcomes that are important. “What will be different because we met?”
2. Before establishing a meeting agenda I understand what other meeting participants think is important to accomplish.
3. When I plan a meeting I take the time to think through each individual segment of work (the agenda items), who needs to participate in which ways, what time each item might take, and how to facilitate each conversation.
4. I create a logical flow and put things in an order that allows agenda items to build on each other.
5. In the meetings I lead we complete all the agenda items.
6. Participants understand and complete the pre-work needed for the meeting to be effective.
7. When we start our meetings everyone understands why we’re there and what we need to accomplish; participants are aligned.
8. For each agenda item we clarify why it’s on the agenda, what we need to accomplish, and how we will do that.
9. Each participant in the meeting understands their role for each agenda item.
10. When we need to make a decision, we take the time to clarify the issues, hear each other, and develop options that arise from listening before making a decision.
11. When making a decision, meeting participants understand their roles and how the decision will be made.
12. At the end of the meeting, before running out of the room, we review what we did, the next steps, and if/when we plan to meet again.

(Here’s a pdf version of the assessment: Meeting Planning and Facilitation Assessment )

How did you do? If you answered 1= never, 2=rarely, or 3=sometimes to any of these questions, keep reading. You can easily improve the quality of your meetings. If most of your answers were 4 or 5, then congratulations, you are doing the basics well. You may still pick up a few good ideas below.

The 5 Components of Planning and Leading an Effective Meeting 

Once it starts, every meeting has three basic segments – a beginning, a middle, and an end. However, there are two other critical segments – planning before the meeting and follow-up after the meeting. Without a good plan to start with, the meeting itself will take more time than needed and likely not accomplish its goals. And without follow-up much of the work doesn’t actually reach fruition. Sadly, it’s not over when the meeting itself ends.

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Like many leaders, you may get ahead of your organization when leading change.  You see what needs to change because it’s part of your role.  However, to lead change successfully, it is critical for you to create an opportunity for others to see what you see … and for you to understand what they see.  

“I’m ready to make change, but my team isn’t.” One of my clients, John, a company president, was clear about the changes he wanted to make but convinced that his leadership team did not want to go with him.  He had assessed the company’s strategy and determined that without change, they wouldn’t achieve the needed business results. When I inquired about the conversations he had with the team, he said, “I shared my ideas for a new strategy, and they weren’t interested.”

I often hear about this type of situation – someone proposes a solution and becomes frustrated when others are not enthusiastically signing up to follow them and implement the proposed change.

As a leader you are always leading change. Your work is to lead your organization from the present into the future … a future that is better than the present. Whether that change is a slow steady progression or requires a significant shift, to be successful you need to generate the energy for the change to be successful.

• How effective are you at managing change?
• Do your efforts feel hit or miss?
• How well do you understand the key factors that lead to successful change?

In this article you will learn a simple yet powerful framework that describes the conditions necessary for change to occur. You can use it to design a change process that flows well from the beginning or to help you understand why a particular change effort is stuck and how to get it moving.

The Algebra of Change:  D x V x F > R

Successful change requires dissatisfaction with the status quo (D), a positive vision for the future (V), and practical first steps (F) to get started. If any of these are missing there will not be enough energy to overcome whatever resistance exists … and there is always resistance.

For change to occur the three variables on the left of the equation are multiplied together. So dissatisfaction, vision, and first steps must all exist (be greater than zero) for the left side to be greater than the resistance, the energy pushing against the change. Ignoring any of them will cause your change to get stuck, take longer, cost more, or fail.

Dissatisfaction (D) with the current state is what pushes or propels a change – it creates motivation. Without dissatisfaction, there is not enough energy for a change process to begin. Dissatisfaction can be directed at something specific in the current situation, or with the current level of results.

No matter how clear the vision and first steps, without dissatisfaction there is no “reason” to change, so you stay stuck.

Vision for the future (V) is the force that pulls the change – it provides direction. It is the positive possibility for the future. Vision must be a compelling description of what you want in the future, not simply the absence of something in the present. Vision needs to be enough of a stretch from what exists today to make it worth an effort to get there, and yet seem achievable. When you have dissatisfaction and first steps, but no vision for the future you create an experience of “change of the month” – trying lots of things, but nothing “sticks” because there is no clear direction.

First Steps (F) are actions you can take to begin the move from the present toward the desired future – a path forward. Clarity about some first steps creates a sense of capability and hope. When you have dissatisfaction and a positive vision for the future, but don’t know what the steps are to get started, you get frustrated and stay stuck. You must have a path forward in order to feel you can get started.

Resistance (R) is a force that slows or stops movement. It represents the risks and barriers to the change – the perceived cost of change. It is normal and natural to encounter resistance – some resistance always exists – it’s part of our biology. Some risks and barriers cannot be changed and others can be influenced to change.

The good news is that you can influence each of these 4 variables. You increase the energy for a specific change by raising the variables on the left-hand side (D, V and F), and / or decreasing the variable on the right-hand side (R).

This framework works for any intentional change – organizational or personal.

Applying the framework for change involving only one person is simpler because there is only one person’s D, V, F and R to consider. Organizational change is more complex because of the greater number of stakeholders involved.

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What is Strategic Planning? It’s a process of engaging your key stakeholders to agree on the mission, vision, and values of your organization, as well as your goals, and the strategies and key actions to reach them. The result is a plan that focuses the efforts of your organization toward achieving your desired future. To do this you need to know “where you are” and “where you are going.” As the old adage goes … if you don’t know where you want to go, then any plan will get you there.

Every organization whether for-profit or nonprofit, needs a strategic plan. Here are 7 ways to tell if you need to design a plan, or if it’s time to update your existing one.

1. Your organization has existed for more than 3 years and you’ve never had a strategic plan. When a business or nonprofit starts it has a reason for existing and a sense for its goals, but the immediate start-up needs are often driven by tactical concerns. You get initial funding, put a basic infrastructure in place, develop products or services, and go after initial customers or members. “Long term” is one or two years. But once you are established and have a sense of the lay of the land, you need a more strategic focus to guide you. It’s time for a strategic plan.

2. The environment within which you are operating has changed. Changes happen all the time: new competitors emerge, customers come and go, the funding landscape alters, the economy fluctuates, or the demand for your services changes. While you need to take notice and adapt continuously, not all of these are reasons to change your direction or strategy. So how do you know when a change in the operating environment is cause for re-examination? When the assumptions upon which you based your plan have changed, it’s time to take a new look.   

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