A Few Thoughts About Meetings…
As I was sitting in our staff meeting yesterday, I was considering the process we were going through as we wrestled through some decisions. I don’t mind long meetings. I disdain long pointless meetings. Thankfully we have healthy team and avoid endless and meaningless meetings. A few things that help when trying to work through decisions in meetings:
1) Share CONCISELY. – This has not been one of my strong suits in leadership. I can ramble. We have to coach, set guidelines, and even hold people accountable to being concise. The ability to summarize and get the essential info across is a much needed skill. We are working on this with our 8 year old daughter who sadly inherited my issues with this. Get to the point!
2) Press for CLARITY. – I think a lot of meetings are side-tracked because of misunderstanding of thought. Way too much assuming goes on in a meeting, but also too little focused listening. I again confess to being a culprit of hearing what I want to hear as I prepare my next statement. This takes a 5 minute discussion to 15 because of confusion that comes through not asking clarifying questions.
3) Come To A CONCLUSION. – If there is one thing that will frustrate a team over time, it is when a conversation is had and no one pulls the trigger on what we will actually do. I have enough D personality in me that I go bonkers when we don’t come to an action point to get something productive done. If you don’t do this, people on the team will disengage, knowing that in the end all we’ve done is circle the airport. Land the plane!
NICKSHOCK.US 
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