Chapter Eight

Meeting Management

One of the key facilitator roles is to know how to design and manage effective meetings. First, sensitize yourself to the ingredients of an ineffective meeting:

• — lack of clarity about the meeting goal
• — a vague or nonexistent agenda
• — no time limits on discussions
• — no discernible process for working on important issues
• — no one facilitating discussions
• — people haven’t done their homework
• — discussions that go off track or spin in circles
• — lack of closure to discussions before moving on
• — people vehemently arguing points of view rather than debating ideas
• — a few people dominating while others sit passively
• — meetings that end without detailed action plans for agreed next steps
• — absence of any process checking of the meeting as it unfolds