Ground Rules
Establish the ground rules for the meeting. This is important, because it determines how the meeting will run. A general set of rules to consider, suggested by Barbara Streibel in The Manager's Guide to Effective Meetings, is:
- Attendance
- Promptness and penalty for late members
- Participation in the meeting
- Meeting role assignments
- Interruptions: Cell phones off, or on vibrate
- Respect everyone
- The discussion process and decision-making
- Confidentiality: Determine what information does not leave the room.
- Assignments given out
- Method for evaluating meetings
- Chronic violation of the rules
(Streibel, 2004)
Start and follow the agenda items. Ask each person assigned a task to present new information. Remind each presenter the amount of time allocated in the agenda for them to deliver their report.
During the meeting, do not quickly jump to conclusions in the middle of the presentation. Determine if all the information is strong enough to make a decision, or not enough to move forward. Weigh in on the amount of risk you are willing to take, versus how much information you actually have. Get feedback from the team members who might have a great background or experience in the topic.
Close out each agenda item. Make sure the note-taker is updating the agenda, and adding information for the next meeting. When a team member takes on an assignment, the note-taker must update the agenda with that person as responsible.
If an agenda item exceeds the allocated time, determine if it needs wrapping up, or should be delayed to next week. When the time runs out, politely remind the presenter we have to conclude this topic.
At the end of the meeting time, or when you reach the bottom of the agenda, you can open the floor up for a roundtable discussion. The roundtable is time allocated at the end of the meeting for the team to bring up new topics or action items that need attention. Go around the room with everyone and ask if they have anything for roundtable. Limit the time to a few minutes for each person, so you will not overrun the meeting.
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