Imagine you have a mentor you can call on in any situation. Whenever uncertainty swarms, this wise person illuminates your best possible choice at any given moment. Never one to command or threaten, this mentor simply encourages in a voice that rarely rises above a gentle whisper. Wouldn’t life unfold much easier if such a mentor existed?
Truth is, this mentor does exist . . . within you.
Some call it instinct or intuition. Others call it a higher power. I choose to believe it’s a spiritual connection that resides beyond me and within me at the same time, much as a single drop of water is part of the ocean even as that ocean is in the drop of water.
But if this mentor, this voice, does exist, then why do so many choose to ignore it? I can only answer based on my experience.
For so long, I abandoned that mentor, even though I’d placed much faith in him when younger. Back then, his voice encouraged me to explore my world with great expectations. Then somewhere along my journey, as I matured—and I use that word loosely—I set aside those expectations to make “responsible” decisions using only logic for guidance. But logic only goes so far. And when used by itself to make life decisions, one can end up with something that only vaguely resembles living.
My inner mentor knew I wasn’t living my best life when he urged me to walk away from a high-paying job that had begun to hollow out my insides. I’m embarrassed to relay that it took seven years to do it, but after leaving, a peace lifted me and I’ve been floating ever since.
One thing I’ve noticed since recognizing the value of heeding my inner mentor is, alternate voices creep into my head sometimes. They are deceptive because they sound similar to my own voice, yet are negative in nature. Sometimes the voices warn me against the odds of success in the pursuit of my dreams. Sometimes they tell me I don’t know what I’m doing and I should give up.
Over time I’ve come to realize these voices are simply echoes of past influencers in my life. Some of these people only wanted to shelter me from what they perceived as a harsh world. Others did not have my best interests in mind and wanted to discourage me from chasing my dreams, I suspect, because they’d long since abandoned their own.
This world is a noisy place. So much screams for our attention. But know this: our personal mentor never discourages us . . . ever. If a voice within you yells, admonishes, or threatens, that’s what deserves ignoring. How else will you hear your inner mentor when he or she whispers to you?
Christopher Laney has written for numerous publications including aviation magazines. Using his experience as a pilot, he also pens the inspirational blog Lessons from the Cockpit: Everyday Wisdom from the Flying Life. Christopher recently completed his first novel about a man who yearns to fly and the mysterious flight instructor who takes him on as a student.
Your next project involves implementations here as well as in other countries. Are congratulations in order? Or are condolences more appropriate?
No doubt installations in other geographies come with their own inherent set of challenges. Currency fluctuations; centralized versus local procurement; languages; time zones. And those are even before considering difficulties due to the particular technology being deployed, or the source of spare parts, or infrastructure in the country.
This discussion aims to introduce a technique which can help you increase the acceptance of your initiative in other geographies, as well as resolve any disagreements quickly and with much improved team spirit.
No, it is not the traditional Project Management methodology: I will not start extolling here the virtues of the “Project Charter”. The magic ingredient in international projects, as I have discovered throughout 18 years of successfully deploying such, is treating our colleagues from other countries in a manner which puts them at ease.
Notice that this recommendation goes well past the tired old adage: “Treat those from other countries with sensitivity”. That much is obvious, and we would certainly try to conduct ourselves thus. The recommendation is to approach colleagues from another geography with a demeanor they would find in their own country. In other words, if you are dealing with Brazilians, try to ‘act Brazilian’ as you collaborate with them; if you are working with a Finn, try to ‘act Finnish’.
So how do we develop a good picture of what ‘acting Australian’ or ‘acting Japanese’ might entail? Fortunately, there’s excellent research on intercultural cooperation we can consult. Fons Trompenaars’ Riding the Waves of Culture, or Nancy Adler’s International Dimensions of Organizational Behavior are some of the best books on the intercultural topic.
My personal favourite in the “intercultural” arena, as relevant today as when its first edition was published in the UK in 1991, is Cultures and Organizations: Software of the Mind by Dr. Geert Hofstede.
The ground-breaking contribution of Dr. Hofstede’s research is that, through thousands of surveys of IBM professionals in dozens of countries, he is able to arrive at a numerical value for certain elements or “dimensions” which make up Culture. So for example, we learn that Malaysia, on average, has the highest score (104) for “Power Distance”, meaning that as a group they are quite comfortable accepting power inequalities in society. At the other extreme, Great Britain and Canada have low scores (35 and 39 respectively), which translate into a “limited dependence of subordinates on their bosses”. In other words, British and Canadian employees (as a group) are not afraid to approach their bosses or disagree with them.
Another useful observation centers around the topic of “collectivistic” cultures (where the interest of the group prevails over the interest of the individual) compared to “individualistic” cultures (in which the interests of the individual prevail). It comes as no surprise that the country with the highest individualism score is the USA (91), closely followed by Australia (90). At the other extreme, the countries with the lowest individualism scores are Ecuador (8) and Guatemala (6).
Personally, I have leveraged his findings to arrive at the following communication paradigms, in order to make my counterparts in other geographies more at ease as we negotiate and coordinate project milestones. It has proven a huge advantage, as the largest difficulties in technology projects are not about the technology. They are about people.
With colleagues from Latin America (Venezuela, Panama, Mexico, Brazil, Colombia) and certain Asian countries (Pakistan, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia) with large acceptance of power,
Stress clear definitions: what constitutes in-scope vs. out-of-scope
Stress the benefit to the whole project/company
Stress checkpoints for scope verification
Lively exchange, having fun, yet sticking to the rules
With collegaues from Northern/Western Europe/Australia/New Zealand, which exhibit large individualism,
Have all the facts, be decisive
Recognize the contribution of these colleagues
Relaxed approach, not stressing hierarchy
Sell/negotiate work deliverables
Stress value of the project to their particular unit
How would you know a country’s “Individualism (IDV)” or “Power Distance” (PDI) scores? The best source would be Dr. Hofstede’s book. Alternatively, ITIM International has kindly published the scores in the website http://www.geert-hofstede.com/
I hope you find these recommendations useful and that they make you very successful in your next international project.
It’s always going to be the case that you find some people easier to work with than others.
Rule 4: Avoid micromanagement
Sometimes you can pinpoint the problem immediately (if, for example, your employee is lazy or unresponsive, comes in late and leaves early, shirks responsibility, or constantly questions your authority without cause).
But there are times when your personality just isn’t compatible with those on your team. Unfortunately, you still have work with these people and find a way to motivate them so that the whole team can realize success.
Some people like their eggs poached, or scrambled, or soft-boiled, or sunny-side up. Others prefer deviled eggs, an omelet, or a quiche.
A key principle of employee motivation is that different people and different groups have different needs and desires. Here’s what you need to know about motivation.
1. Money is not the top motivator – are you surprised? Survey after survey show compensation is important, but the majority of the workforce desires other things more. They want to be valued for the work they do. Money does not do this; personal recognition does.
2. What motivates staff is often different from what motivates supervisors. When workers were asked to rank a list of motivators from 1 to 10 in order of importance, workers rated “appreciation for a job well done” as their top motivator; supervisors ranked it eighth. Employees ranked “feeling in on things” as being #2 in importance; supervisors ranked it last at #10.
3. You get what you reward is common sense, but unfortunately not common practice. How many supervisors consider ‘appreciating others’ to be part of their job responsibility? Probably, not many. Most tend to be too busy or too removed from their employees to notice and thank good work. Limited appreciation leads to limited motivation.
4. What is most motivating tend to be relatively easy to do. For example, recognize a high performer in the company newsletter or website. Have her manager’s manager call to thank her for a job well done. Leave a voice mail praising her work.
5. Managers tend not to focus on employee motivation until it’s lost. They are often too busy focusing on what’s urgent and forget about it until morale sinks, employees quit or targets are not made. Then they must scramble to figure out what’s going on. At this point, fixing the problem is much more difficult than doing little things along the way.
Management Success Tip:
You probably have a diverse workforce. You have different employee groups – each with unique needs. Do you know the key motivators for your:
Front-liners who deal with the customer everyday?
Sales force that grow your business in leaps and bounds?
Support staff that make it come together behind the scenes?
Professionals who provide the know how to get the work done?
Young workers who will develop into the future for your organization?
Do your employees say: “The only time I get attention from my supervisor is when I do something wrong?” Then start recognizing good performance. Email Marcia@MarciaZidle.com to get “50 Great Ways to Recognize and Reward and Not Break the Bank”
How many of you in college or graduate school had a course, or even a workshop, on managing your career?
I bet not many because too many young professionals and emerging leaders come to me for guidance with all kinds of career situations: Advancing in a corporate career, getting along with their boss, taking on the right kind of assignment, dissatisfaction with their career choice, etc.
Out of a recent leadership and career development program, came 20 real world practical ideas about managing one’s career. This career intelligence is relevant no matter what your job function is or what kind of company you work for. Everyone needs to know how to succeed in today’s workplace.
Which one’s resonate with you?
The boss isn’t always right, but he’s still the boss.
Confidence comes from success, knowledge comes from failure.
Perception is reality – whether it’s true or not – it’s their reality.
The workplace is about business and profitability, not about you.
Don’t panic and do something stupid in anticipation of a bad event.
Pay as much attention to relationships as the work that has to get done.
It’s OK to say I don’t know as long as the next thing you say is I’ll find out.
When you have problems with others, look inside yourself first for answers.
Pay attention to small details, the big ones are obvious and get taken care of.
It’s not what you say; it’s how you say it, when you say it, and why you say it.
If you’re not passionate about what you’re doing, you won’t be successful at it.
Know that ideas without action are like being all dressed up with no place to go.
If you’re miserable, quit and do something else. If you’re still miserable, it’s you.
It is impossible to know where you are going if you don’t know where you’ve been.
If you don’t know, say so. If you don’t know what you’re talking about, stop talking
Invest at least 40% of your time managing yourself–your ethics, character and purpose.
Whine and complain all you want; nobody gives a crap. Get off your duff and so something.
Don’t burn bridges. Something you said or done may comes back to haunt you later in your career.
Think before you act. Ask yourself: Could I be misinterpreting what’s happening? If you answer yes, stop before you jump into the water.
Go with your talents. Spend 80% of your attention to your strengths and about 20% to your weaknesses. It’s easier to kick a rock downhill than one uphill.
Career Success Tip:
Perioidically look back and reflect on your experiences in your life and your career. What lessons did you learn? No matter what career stage we’re in, we all have lessons to learn and, at times, be relearned.What’s the best way to find out about a career? Information interviewing. 20 questions to ask to find out about a career field.
People these days seem to be impatient, stressed and constantly rushed. I am that way myself too much of the time. But if we let it get in the way of listening, there is a price to pay. That price includes losses in efficiency, effectiveness, and even in relationships. We make mistakes, we forget what was said, we miss nuances in the conversation. Not good.
We owe it to ourselves and all those we care about at home and at work, to slow down, pay attention, and do the hard but rewarding work of listening.
This week, check your listening habits.
1. Put aside all else. In order to really listen, you must put aside other work, turn away from the computer screen, and focus on the speaker. It is too easy to keep looking at your work, especially when the person is on the phone. But it is pretty obvious when someone is not listening. Listening is a skill that requires your full attention. Try it and see what a difference focus makes.
2. Focus on the entire message. Pay attention to what is being said, not on your response to it. Tune in to body language, tone of voice, facial expressions, absorbing the whole message. Watch for conflicting body language, such as a frown, folded arms over chest, or a subtle shaking of the head while saying “yes.” Non-verbals can account for as much as 55% of the message, so pay close attention to the entire message, not just the words.
3. Show that you are listening. Avoid looking around or fidgeting. Make steady eye contact, nod, and use neutral acknowledgements such as “uh-huh” or “go on.” Separate listening from responding: don’t jump in too soon with your own opinion, your story, or your advice. Listen first.
4. Adjust to the style of the other person. If they are interested in the emotional context, don’t keep asking about facts. If they are very fact-oriented, shift your listening to the rational. If they want details, focus more on details. If they want to talk big picture, let them know you see it, then ask about feelings or for further facts.
5. Check back. Ask if you are hearing them correctly. Don’t make assumptions or jump to conclusions based on partial hearing. Even if you are under pressure or tight on time, maybe especially then, slow down, breathe, and focus on hearing and paraphrasing what you are hearing. If you just can’t focus at that moment, say so, and ask to connect at another time.
6. Eliminate sound clutter. If your phone is getting a bad signal, don’t tough it out. If you are in a noisy place, or rushing to catch a plane, and you can’t hear what is being said, there is no way you can do a great job of listening. Ask to reschedule, or get yourself to a quieter place where you can both hear and concentrate.
Great leaders and great communicators have a striking ability to listen well. It takes work and effort, and energy you sometimes feel short on, but it is so worth it. It pays dividends in better productivity and helps build better relationships. What could be more worthwhile?
Every year thousands of change initiatives are undertaken globally in the form of reorganization, structural and procedural change, new product and service launches, and the setting of strategy, goals, and objectives. Yet, according to Harvard Business Review, 70% of all change initiatives fail. The financial cost of failed change to organizations, the economy, and society is enormous. The human cost – measured by employee disengagement, lack of trust, apathy, turn-over, sick days, depression, and burnout – is even higher.
Why is change so hard to successfully implement? Change has a dynamic and logic all its own – the more you try to control it, mandate the timeline, or predict the outcomes the sooner you become part of the 70% failure rate. Success lies in implementing a new model of change rather than repeating the same model better and faster. What we need today is a change model that addresses all three critical aspects of organizational change: transactional, transitional, and transformational. Ideally, we want a model that embeds adaptive change into the culture, thereby, creating resilience and agility in a world that is volatile and unpredictable.
The most commonly implemented change models, for example that of John Kotter, focus on the transactional aspects of change – the things we do during the change initiative, new structures, processes, and functional outputs and results. Change initiatives that focus primarily on transactional aspects are not designed to incorporate latent or tacit organizational knowledge into the process of creating their future. Instead they rely on a “powerful guiding coalition” (Kotter) to set the vision and plan the journey, often operating in a top down fashion and having little or no knowledge of local (geographic, team, or individual) challenges.
Transactional change models work well in cases of complicated change, for example, model changeover on an assembly line, but do not support the emotional and psychological components of complex change, such as new product development. Complex change requires that all three aspects of change be addressed simultaneously – transactional, transitional, and transformational – in order to make the most of the interdependencies and connectivity within the organization.
The Adaptive Change model describes a cycle that occurs when organizations encounter or design intentional destabilizing events that have the potential to move the whole system to a higher level of performance. Discontinuities initiate the change cycle, challenging the Status Quo and requiring that leaders establish a new vision for the future. As discontinuities arise the organization experiences an Adaptive Strain, like the tension created by pulling apart a rubber band.
While the overarching vision is often Transactional (a project, new technology, or restructuring), each part of the organization needs to understand the local destabilizing events it creates that are unique to their situation. This requires every team, division, or function to create a vision of the future that addresses their unique transitional needs (Letting Go-Neutral Presence-Letting Come) and creates the potential for transformation (changes in behavior, ideology, or organizational identity) to occur. In this way the whole organization moves toward higher performance and lasting change that is both global and local, aligning all parts yet preserving their unique characteristics.
Adaptive Change Model
The model captures five key aspects of change:
1 – Transactional Aspects arise from destabilizing events that create organizational volatility and the need for vision. This is represented by the green line – solid during times of stability and broken when uncertainty or unpredictability are present.
2 – Transitional Aspects arise from the initiation of transactional change and the emotionally generated red line of change. It is essential to manage this aspect as it determines the shape of the dip (the cauldron) in the transactional journey. Management of the red line is a three stage process of Letting Go-Neutral Presence-Letting Come, which follows the arc of the cauldron.
3 – Transformational Aspects arise when complexity gives way to clarity and opportunity emerges. Transformation during change occurs at many different levels: from “Oh, I get it!” to Ah-ha moments, to revolutionary ideas. Some form of transformation occurs to cause the transactional line to begin the movement up and toward vision.
4 – At all stages the organization is learning and not following a straight line: what to conserve and what to let go – the Fall, imagining opportunity and innovating ideas – the Cauldron, and rapid prototyping and cross-pollination with others – the Road Back.
5 – The journey is defined by the people and the tasks that they have willingly taken on to achieve their vision. Leaders of change have a portfolio of Adaptive Change journeys to juggle, not a single initiative to lead.
DR. CAROL MASE challenges leaders and their organizations to think differently about the world and how they can achieve their fullest potential in it. Her unique background unites business and biology, psychology and physics, bringing them into creative tension and generating tools and applications for all levels of the organization – from the C-Suite to the manufacturing floor. Carol has worked as an entrepreneur and an executive in Fortune 500 companies, always introducing fresh ideas that produce innovation and change, locally and organization-wide. She holds a degree in Psychology/Education, a Masters in Human Ecology/Interpersonal Relations, and a Doctorate in Veterinary Medicine.
If you are having one of those weeks with one frustration after another, you may find it hard to muster the energy to keep moving forward.
How do you re-connect to your Source of inspiration and energy when you are overwhelmed, unmotivated or feeling off balance?
One spiritual practice is this: Do something- anything- to bring your energy closer to the vibration of love and joy.
Here are some simple steps you can take to raise your energy and connect with love and joy:
1. Over your lunch break or on your way home from work, go to the store and buy a card for someone. It can be a funny card, a thank-you card, a missing-you card, a thinking-of you card- anything that helps you get out of your own skin and start thinking of people who make you smile or you appreciate in your life. Send them a note to let them know what they mean to you.
2. Make a quick trip to get some donuts, cupcakes, muffins or anything simple and tasty to share with your co-workers. Breaking bread is a communal activity. It helps bring people together and breaks the routine of work. You can get healthy foods too, it doesn’t have to be the sugar that lifts your spirits.
3. Save a funny YouTube video on your computer or cell phone that you can see on a break. Just stretching your face muscles from a frown to a smile can shift your energy. You’ll be surprised how much stress you carry in your body and your subconscious. Be aware when you hold tension in your face, shoulders or back. Shift the frowny face to a smiley face and you’ll raise your energy towards joy.
4. Don’t do this while driving… but some time during the day, close your eyes and breath deeply. Think of the last great vacation you took or the dream vacation you’d love to have. Go there in your mind. Breath in the joy and satisfaction you’ll get going to that place. Open your eyes and remember- that happy place is just a thought away. As Caroline Myss says, ‘Happiness is an inside job” – You can choose it any time you want.
5. Ask a co-worker to tell you a story of a time they were really happy, or felt a lot of joy. Bring your focus to what brings them joy, a smile, a good feeling. This will help you get out of your own head and connect on a heart level with someone else at work.
Try these out some time when you feel overwhelmed or burned out. See how it works for you.
Special Note: We posted a reader poll last week and would like your feedback. Please click here to complete the poll http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/SRTHMSD It will only take 2-3 minutes to share with us your reactions to our blogs. We want to know what topics you like to read and what ideas you’d like us to cover. Thanks for helping us know what would be valuable and meaningful for you.
Linda is an author, speaker, coach, and consultant. Go to her website www.lindajferguson.com to read more about her work, view video clips of her talks, and find out more about her book “Path for Greatness: Spirituality at Work” The paperback version is available on Amazon. NOW NEW!!! the pdf version of Path for Greatness is available for download from her website. ALSO, Linda’s new book, “Staying Grounded in Shifting Sand” is now available on her website.
Email is a very measurable tool, and it’s important that you measure your results so you can report on the effectiveness of your email program. In this post, I’ll suggest the most meaningful metrics for you to examine an individual message’s results against previous emails. In the next post, I’ll show you how to view your email program’s success as a whole.
Any decent email tool will provide you with more measurements than you have time to evaluate. The measurements are not consistently named or even measured across different tools, so I’m going to give you what I have found the most useful over the past 11 years.
Open Rate: The open rate of an email measures the effectiveness of the time of day and day of week that your email was sent, as well as the “From” name and email address, the subject line and sometimes the first lines of your copy. That’s all someone can see without opening your email. The open rate is calculated by the number of emails opened, divided by the number of emails that were successfully delivered (don’t count emails that bounced). Good email open rates run about 20%
Click-Through Rate: The layout and content of the email determine whether or not people will click the links in the email. Divide the number of email messages that are clicked into the number of emails that were opened to get this ratio (a good email click-through rate is 30% but varies widely depending on what you’re asking the reader to do). Don’t measure click-through based on the number of emails that are delivered. If you do, you’re taking into account all of those factors that go into determining open rate. An email with a terrible subject line but great content will look like a bad email if you base your click-through rate on the number of emails delivered. People can’t click if they don’t open the email, so only count the email messages delivered. Count only unique clicks per recipient; if someone clicks every link in your email, or clicks the same link several times, only count them once.
Completion Rate: Once people click a link in your email, presumably you want them to do something on the web page (sign a petition, make a donation, etc.). So count the number of completed donations or petition signatures as a percentage of the emails that were clicked. To do this, you probably need to create a unique landing page just for this email, so that other web traffic doesn’t distort your results. 20% completion on a donation page is about average; I’ve seen completion rates of 100% or more on a petition (respondents complete it, then get their spouses or friends to complete it too).
Example: You sent 10,000 email messages, and 9,000 were delivered, 2000 opened, and 500 of them resulted in a click to a donation page, and you got 100 donations. Your open rate is 2000/9000 or 22.2%. Your click-through rate is 500/2000 or 25%. And your completion rate is 100/500 or 20%.
Questions about how to measure using your email tool? Or, how to improve your results? Ask Me.
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Rick Christ has been helping nonprofit organizations use the internet for fundraising, communications and advocacy since 2009, and has been a frequent writer on the subject. He delights in your questions and arguments. Please contact him at: RChrist@Amergent.com or at his LinkedIn Page
We don’t often think about staff meetings as a training ground, but they are. Granted, they exist at a very basic level (only lower level would be OJT, or on-the-job training, considered one of the best training environments), but few situations allow you to have so many company subject matter experts and leaders in the same location at the same time. But the problem isn’t whether you agree with my training definition; it’s about maximizing the use of this management “training” tool.
Where else are you going to find the company experts all in one place but a staff meeting. These meetings invaluable basic training.
“Management requires us to attend regular staff meetings on weekly basis with an objective to discuss the routine matters of the office. These meetings apparently turn out to be boring and fruitless.”
The comment above sounds a little like, “War! What is it good for?” Unfortunately staff meetings are necessary, just not life threatening, unless you die from boredom. Of course, ensuring “what’s in it for me” will help, but you need to make it more reciprocal and establish an “all for one and one for all” meeting format.
Staff meetings can serve a very useful multipurpose existence. To make them work the way you want them to, you may just have to train staff in meeting design and handling of subordinate staff in a corporate setting.
I know it sounds boring put that way, but doesn’t have to be. A staff meeting can have order, provide vital and useful information, and be interesting and interactive.
Staff meetings still may take up some of your valuable time, but they can be transformed, with a little planning, into meetings that give back, that pack information you need from the rest of the staff to know, identify training needs or inform others of training that is being offered in the organization elsewhere, provide collaborative opportunities, and ways to focus your efforts so you may best be rewarded for them. Need a list of what effective staff meetings can accomplish? Just to show I don’t have the lock on ideas, here’s a list from the Career Post Team on the Virgin Islands:
“Improving collective performance, encouraging greater productivity and boosting profits
• Strengthening a sense of togetherness, brand-awareness and corporate identity
• Developing good communication skills within internal teams – a valuable skill which will be translated into customer or client interaction
• Motivating staff to help each other succeed, reinforcing their commitment to working towards a common goal
• Teaching managers and senior staff the crucial arts of communication, delegation and leadership
• Discussing matters concerning changes in office routine, such as: change in lunch periods, hours, vacation time, etc.
• Announcing weekly office statistics
• Open discussion on ideas for generating referrals
• Contributing to a sense of oneness among co-workers
• Discouraging feelings of isolation that can develop when staff members are given routine work assignments that allow only minimal interpersonal communication during the day
• Stimulating useful ideas about how to deal with problems and how to improve the handling of routine situations
• Reducing friction by giving staff members an appropriate forum to air their differences and seek resolution
• Ensuring regular and effective communication”
Now, the trick is making the staff meeting work for you as the manager, supervisor or staff member. First, focus on one or two items of particular importance. Don’t try to combine too many items–especially combining the important and not-so-important administrivia (sorry administrators). The key is to keep the meeting short and relevant. The longer the meeting, the less will be remembered, and it will be the least motivating. People are truly motivated over one or two important items at time. Any more will overwhelm.
We don’t have regular staff meetings in my office; instead we have individual management meetings–a one-on-one with the supervisor. We are all mid-level management ourselves, but I still feel regular staff meetings are important. The best staff meetings I remember having were during my time in the military. All the players knew their parts well and the result was a meeting no longer than it needed to be, everyone was heard, and any additional information that was required could be run down after the meeting.
A staff meeting, or any meeting for that matter, should be a precise communication of what is intended. “There he goes again–the communicator.” Actually, this time I’m talking more about organization and planning, but focused as you would in creating a single-minded event–with multiple disciplines involved.
D’Artagnan and the Three Musketeers — “All for One and One for All!”
The purpose of the meeting is really about bringing people to together for a single purpose–the company’s purpose. So, a staff meeting is a way to bring “all for one, and one for all” like the The Three (or four) Musketeers. Too bad we feel we just got stuck.
How can you avoid being “stuck?” You can’t unless you’re the boss, but there’s help for him, too.
Approach the meeting as you would a production. You can’t have wildly differing elements or the meeting loses the cohesiveness of meeting tied together topically. Chaos will ensue, people stop paying attention. You know this happens on conference calls because those on the other end can mute their end and you’ll never know unless you ask a question. In a meeting, everyone can just stay mute and the meeting will end after your lecture. Not very productive.
You should do the following every time you have a meeting, but you would be surprised who doesn’t. Plan it like an event you want people to want to attend.
This is how it usually happens: you are so busy that you jot down a few things you want to talk about and call everyone together or schedule a meeting, but often you only say a few words about what it is going to be about. While you’re just saying a few words, how about adding an acknowledgment of how busy everyone is and a short sentence that you expect or hope attendees might get out of the meeting?
A staff meeting can have order, provide vital and useful information, as well as be interesting and interactive if you let it.
In larger organizations where you would have section heads, vice presidents, sitting around a table–each is immersed in a world of work totally different from one another, but I will assume each is equally important to the company (or at least he or she thinks that is the case). The president, CEO, boss-whoever is sitting at the head of the table, wants to see how all your efforts come together. Purpose of the meeting: an update from each of the attendees. Basically, a show-and-tell of the work going on right now. Or, a focused piece on one aspect, one strategic component everyone is doing their part. This meeting is important for everyone to know what the others are doing; it might spur ideas, questions and concerns. Now’s the time to address them.
How do you get everyone on the same clock? Giving them time to work with is too fluid. People rarely stay on time. Either they break off early because they don’t have time to cover everything-so why bother (not good for morale either); or they go over–sometimes long enough to be stopped by the boss. Also, not a morale booster.
A model meeting format to take back to “your” office.
Instead, create one standardized presentation and give responsibility to each participant to do two or three (make it the same for all) slides. On each slide they “own” they can use bullets (done the same way), charts or examples. One good reason for standardizing the presentation is that it puts everyone on the same page and using the same rules. No PowerPoint or similar type of presentation? Use one or two flip charts, or limit the number of points to discuss on the white board. If you have an executive officer or special projects officer, he or she can put it all together and “manage” the terms under which each member participates in the meeting.
In the end, participants will have equal amounts of information and be able to focus on the information they need, know where to get additional information, and participate equally in the discussion or Q and As. You will have a presentation or handout to take back to your office. What could be more fair than “one for all and all for one?” And, you’ll have a model staff meeting format to take back to your office and your staff.
These are my words and opinions. Please feel free to disagree and comment, or contact me. If you’re interested in more of my points of view–my Cave Man way of looking at things, I have a website where you can find other items I have written. For more information on my peculiar take on training, check out my best selling The Cave Man Guide To Training and Development, and for a look at a world that truly needs a reality check, see my novel about the near future, Harry’s Reality! Meanwhile, Happy Training.
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Christopher Laney has written for numerous publications including aviation magazines. Using his experience as a pilot, he also pens the inspirational blog Lessons from the Cockpit: Everyday Wisdom from the Flying Life. Christopher recently completed his first novel about a man who yearns to fly and the mysterious flight instructor who takes him on as a student. 
