Module 21: Planning, Managing, and Recording Meetings

Question 1

People in organizations meet in many ways.

Answer 1

1) Informal, one-on-one meetings
2) Team meetings
3) Regular staff meetings
4) Other: sales meetings, staff training sessions, conventions, and retreats
5) Parliamentary proceedings

Question 2

Informal, one-on-one meetings

Answer 2

are the most significant; people see these encounters as an opportunity to exchange meaningful information.

Question 3

Team meetings

Answer 3

Bring people together to manage projects, solve problems, and collaborate on documents (Module 20). Recorded agendas and minutes formalize these meetings.

Question 4

Regular staff meetings

Answer 4

Provide information, announce new policies and products, answer questions, share ideas, and motivate people. Recorded agendas and minutes formalize these meetings.

Question 5

Other frequent organizational meetings

Answer 5

Include sales meetings, staff training sessions, conventions, and retreats. These sessions allow people to develop themselves professionally, to build teams, and/or to do long-range planning.

Question 6

Parliamentary proceedings

Answer 6

Are the most formal types of meetings, run according to strict rules like those summarized in Robert’s Rules of Order. These meetings are common only for boards of directors and legislative bodies.

Question 7

What Planning Should Precede a Meeting?

Answer 7

Identify your purpose(s), and plan with an agenda.

Question 8

Meetings are needed:

Answer 8

To share information

To brainstorm ideas

To evaluate ideas

To make decisions

To create a document

To motivate members

Question 9

Your meeting agenda

Answer 9

should be a blueprint of your expectations and objectives.

Question 10

The company uses four different decision-making processes:

Answer 10

1) Authoritative
2) Consultative
3) Voting
4) Consensual:

Question 11

Authoritative:

Answer 11

The leader makes the decision alone

Question 12

Consultative:

Answer 12

The leader hears group comments but then makes the decision alone

Question 13

Voting:

Answer 13

The majority wins

Question 14

Consensual:

Answer 14

Discussion continues until everyone can support the decision

Question 15

A good agenda answers five questions.

Answer 15

When and where? Time and place of the meeting

What? Agenda items

Why? Each item flagged for purpose—information, discussion, or decision

Who? Participants and individuals sponsoring or introducing each item

How? Meeting duration and time allotted for each item

Question 16

What Do I Need to Know About Virtual Meetings?

Answer 16

Be aware of the limitations of the technology. Build in some real meetings as well as virtual ones.

Question 17

When I’m in Charge, How Do I Keep the Meeting on Track?

Answer 17

Pay attention to both task and process.

Question 18

In any virtual or face-to-face meeting, your goals as chair are to

Answer 18

(1) make sure you invite the right people—people necessary to the process and to the decision making,
(2) clarify the purpose of the meeting, and
(3) help participants work through agenda items in the time allotted.

Question 19

What Decision-Making Strategies Work Well in Meetings?

Answer 19

The best decision-making strategies happen long before the meeting. Make the meeting objective explicit and prepare participants. In the meeting, use a decision tree, dot planning, or standard agenda.

Question 20

Dot planning

Answer 20

offers a way for groups to choose priorities quickly.

Question 21

The standard agenda is a seven-step decision-making process for solving problems.

Answer 21

Clarify and reach agreement on the task: what the group has to deliver, in what form, by what due date. Identify available resources.

Identify and reach agreement on the problem or the situation: What question is the group trying to answer? What exactly is the issue?

Gather information, share it with all group members, and examine it critically.

Establish criteria: What would the ideal solution include? Which elements of that solution would be part of a less-than-ideal but still acceptable solution? What legal, financial, ethical, or other limitations might keep a solution from being implemented?

Generate alternative solutions: Brainstorm and record ideas for the next step.

Measure the alternatives against the criteria.

Choose the best solution.11

Question 22

The best meeting minutes record

Answer 22

Decisions reached

Action items, where someone needs to implement or follow up on something

Open items—topics not resolved12