Overview
- Time Frame: 2.5 or 3 hours. Longer time for more participants.
- Suggested number of participants: 6-18
- Materials needed: Blank thank you notecards [do I include worksheets here?]
- Room Setup: tables of 4-6
You’ve almost certainly sat through a bad meeting. But have you ever been part of a meeting that feels transformational? Done right, meetings facilitate great work. In this workshop, you will learn and practice new strategies to become a master of meetings. Try out some meeting games, and get ready to harness the contributions of colleagues and collaborators while earning gratitude for not wasting time with bad meetings.
- What is the value of a community and network for leadership?
- Who is in your network? How are you connected to them? Why do you value these relationships?
- What skills/competencies/perspectives are you interested in developing, and who can help you do so?
- How do you keep connected and be of help to people in your community and network?
| Facilitator Outcomes | Participants will be able to: |
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Describe why relationships matter for leadership, careers, and impact and express understanding that generosity in relationships is helpful in this work. |
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Visualize their own key relationships and networks and recognize important connections, missing links, and useful patterns. |
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Articulate skills/capacities they would like to develop and identify potential people who could be mentors for developing these skills/capacities. |
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Discuss ways to keep vibrant network connections and use the tool of writing a thank you note. |
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Recognize that they have many things to offer others in their networks and community and practice doing so. |
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Propose an action step or two to improve network relationships. |
Workshop Materials |
Sample Agenda
| 1:30 – 2:00 | Introductions & Icebreakers
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| 2:00 – 2:30 | Connecting the Dots of Your Cultural Background
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| 2:30– 2:40 | Break |
| 2:40-3:00 | Presentation |
| 3:00-3:50 | Case Study: Why Diversity Can Lead to Better Ideas |
| 4:10-4:30 | Reflection & Integration
Ask students to share what actions steps they will be taking. |
Pre-Workshop Email
We recommend sending out the pre-workshop email one-week before and a short follow-up two days before the workshop. This workshop does not require any pre-work before the workshop, but you could include a link to a TED Talk to help prime students for the workshop experience.
Here’s an example:
Dear Workshop Participants:
Thank you for signing up for the Meetings that Matter workshop! The workshop will take place in the Learning and Environmental Sciences Building on the St. Paul campus from 1-4 p.m. in room R-380. Please respond by Friday whether or not you will be attending the workshop using the Google Calendar RSVP feature. This workshop is sold-out and those who have not confirmed their attendance via Google calendar will be removed to make room for folks on the waitlist.
Workshop Description:
You’ve almost certainly sat through a bad meeting. But have you ever been part of a meeting that feels transformational? Done right, meetings facilitate great work. In this workshop, you will learn and practice new strategies to become a master of meetings. Try out some meeting games, and get ready to harness the contributions of colleagues and collaborators while earning gratitude for not wasting time with bad meetings.
There is no pre-work required for this workshop. You will need a pen.
I look forward to meeting with you next week,
Kristi
Post-workshop handout
Post-workshop email
We recommend sending out the post-workshop email within a day or two of the completion of the workshop, to remind participants of any actions they planned to take on going forward, and to get feedback while experience is still fresh.
Here’s an example:
Dear Workshop Participants:
If not, what did you hope to learn that you would like to see in a future workshop?
What were the most valuable take-aways?
What are you going to do to improve the quality of your meetings going forward?
Please use this space to offer any other feedback you feel would be useful for the facilitators and for future workshops.
References
Leach, D. J., Rogelberg, S. G., Warr, P. B., & Burnfield, J. L. (2009). Perceived meeting effectiveness: The role of design characteristics. Journal of Business and Psychology, 24(1), 65-76.
Nixon, C. T., & Littlepage, G. E. (1992). Impact of meeting procedures on meeting effectiveness. Journal of Business and Psychology, 6(3), 361-369
Kauffeld, S., & Lehmann-Willenbrock, N. (2012). Meetings matter: Effects of team meetings on team and organizational success. Small Group Research, 43(2), 130-158.
Grisé, M. L., & Gallupe, R. B. (1999). Information overload: Addressing the productivity paradox in face-to-face electronic meetings. Journal of Management Information Systems, 16(3), 157-185.
Videos
Priya Parker on The Art of Gathering
Author and professional facilitator Priya Parker talks about her book and the art of bringing people together purposeful experiences.
Thank you and goodbye, medieval business meetings
When we apply these elementary principles to the business environment, we can create meetings that not only feel more natural but also encourage collaboration and knowledge exchange.
Websites
How to have meetings that don’t suck
At Slack’s Frontiers conference, Ken Norton, a product partner at GV (the venture capital arm of Alphabet, Inc.), shared concrete ideas on how to improve company culture around meetings.
Running Effective Meetings: A Guide For Humans
The real key to effective meetings is organizing and running them with a human touch – not like some corporate management automaton.
