The charter for productive meetings

June 3rd, 2012?????? Comments Off???

If you want to drain your energy real fast, sign up for that 1pm planning meeting on a Friday, the one that drags on and on. Here are some reasons why you?d avoid that meeting if you could:

• There's no structure or
• A few people are dominating and taking up the air time or
• The chairperson likes doing the talking and the meeting ends up being a monologue or
• You are not sure why you are meeting every Friday or
• You are never clear on the actions - who needs to to what by when or
• No-one prepares for the meeting and the leader just wings it anyway or
• The atmosphere is tense because people feel threatened and keep their cards close to their chests or
• The agenda is too tactical and the pace is stifling and on and on . . .

Techniques not the answer

We can spend hours?learning techniques on how to deal with managers who dominate the discussion or how to keep the discussion on track. Learning these techniques are fine but they do not get to the root of the problem. Meetings, like many other social interactions, need rules of engagement, a set of guidelines that everyone subscribes to. Enter the secret sauce, the CLEAR Meetings Charter?.

The CLEAR Meetings Charter?

The CLEAR Meetings Charter? is a set of rights that all employees subscribe to. It?s purpose is to provide a set of high level rights and rules of engagement that provide structure and purpose to meetings. The CLEAR Meetings Charter? is a set of 10 rules that are based on the word CLEAR:

- C ? COMMUNICATION is authentic and clear
- C ? CONTRIBUTIONS by everyone are expected
- L ? LEADERSHIP style is collaborative and clear
- L ? LEARNING moments and feedback is encouraged
- E ? ENGAGEMENT by everyone is the norm
- E ? ENERGY required to reach the objective is expected
- A ? AGENDA and outcome of meeting is clear
- A ? ARTICULATION of issues and direction is clear
- R ? REASON for the meeting is clear
- R ? RESULT at end is clear

Introducing The CLEAR Meetings Charter? at work

If you really want to make your meetings more energizing and productive, try the CLEAR Meetings Charter?. Everyone, and I mean everyone who attends the meetings needs to understand the charter and buy-in to it. Then, when things go sideways, as they will from time to time, anyone who is a grantee to the charter can refer to the charter to get the session focused and people back to being productive. And here?s a tip: the CLEAR Meetings Charter? should never be framed and hung on the wall. Copies should be laminated and placed around the table at each meeting. The chairperson should refer to the charter at the beginning of each session. And that?s the secret sauce, a little bit at every meeting will get a far better result over time.

If you?d like a free copy of The CLEAR Meetings Charter?, please contact me and I?ll send you the secret sauce.

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