by Jan Dwyer Bang on November 4, 2011
When I worked as an internal training consultant, we used to cancel classes due to low enrollment. Unless the training was mandatory or there was top management support, many staff members simply did not take the time to attend. I often wondered what would happen if staff members had to pay for their training. When companies started paying the HR division for their staff member’s training out of their own departmental budgets – class attendance grew and more people took advantage of their professional development, especially if each employee was required to take a certain number of development hours for their evaluation process.
How about you? Are you taking advantage of your company’s professional development? Compare the cost of your training classes with a local public seminar. If you are a local business owner, I encourage you to take advantage of the low-cost and yet high-quality training that is offered in your local area. Check out www.bandlc.com for a listing of local workshops that I offer with a business partner. Also check out your local chambers of commerce. Many of them hold free lunch and learn sessions for their members. I will be conducting a lunch and learn session at the Puyallup library for the Puyallup Sumner Chamber of Commerce on November 16th on Strategic Partnerships. Check it out!
by Jan Dwyer Bang on February 7, 2011
An effective way to build community in a meeting is to allow time for moments of celebration. We all can think of the negatives in the workplace –which frequently get attention like the squeaky wheel. So it’s important to celebrate the positives. When we focus on the positive, we can build a sense of community and positive energy. Here are a few ways you can incorporate celebration in your meeting:
- Spend the first 10 minutes of your meeting allowing people to share good news
- Structure time during your meeting to honor individual accomplishments
- Celebrate team wins in ways your group enjoys that fit your corporate culture and budget
- Allocate time for people to recognize the positive contributions of others
- Ask meeting attendees what celebration is meaningful for them and implement it
- Celebrate people’s Birthdays and work anniversary dates every month
- Bring fun food to a meeting
Positive news doesn’t have to take much time but the benefits can last longer than that meeting and maybe past the next one, too! Make room for the positives, and your team will celebrate you!
by Jan Dwyer Bang on January 27, 2011
Have you ever been to a meeting where the meeting leader so focused on the agenda that he/she didn’t seem to “flex” with what the audience desired? One way you can prevent this from happening is to structure short “check-in” times during your meeting. You want to create an environment where your attendees are actively involved and engaged with the discussion and outcomes and can let you know how they are feeling or thinking. Here are some ways you can incorporate short check-in’s in your meeting:
Ask open-ended questions:
- How is everyone doing? Do we need to take a break?
- At the start of a meeting, ask this question:
- What is the biggest issue you want us to focus on in our meeting?
- At the middle or end of the meeting, ask these three questions:
- What things do I need to continue doing as a meeting facilitator?
- What things do I need to stop doing as a meeting facilitator?
- What things do I need to start doing as a meeting facilitator?
- “Before we go on to the next topic on our agenda, I’d like to hear from you your questions or thoughts. What questions can I answer?”
Other Ideas:
- Say, “Each one of you has a sticky note – go ahead and jot your thoughts about this issue – without putting your name on the note – place it on this flip chart.”
- “Talk with 2 or 3 people who are sitting around you and share what you believe to be the biggest obstacle in implementing this decision.”
By checking in with your meeting attendees, you can ensure that you engage your audience – which enhances relationships, your credibility, and their buy-in!
by Jan Dwyer Bang on January 20, 2011
The third step in creating a memorable meeting is to allow for freedom. Within a structure, a meeting can thrive. It is planned and organized to make good use of everyone’s valuable time. That is when creativity and innovative ideas can flourish. Make sure your meeting allows for fun, community, creativity, and relationship building There are a myriads of ways to add fun and community building to a meeting (we’ll discuss some ways in the next 3 Blogs).
What does “freedom” look like in a meeting? Here are some examples:
- Free flow of information and energy
- Creative brainstorming where every idea is acknowledged and valued
- No one person dominating the meeting or discussion
- Ideas building upon another
But note – for a meeting to have this kind of freedom – it means there needs to be the structure of an agenda – where agenda topics and time allocations – are clearly delineated for everyone. Stay tuned for the next 3 BLOG entries that will focus on how you can allow for fun, community, creativity, and relationship building in a meeting.
by Jan Dwyer Bang on January 14, 2011
The second step in creating a memorable meeting is to create a culture of encouragement. No one likes to go to a meeting and feel worse than before they arrived! Your attitude as the meeting facilitator can go a long way to contributing to the way people feel. Now that your meeting is organized (read my previous entry), you can build in moments of encouragement and affirmation. Make sure your meeting allows for fun, community, creativity, and relationship building. Sometimes you can gauge how “fun” a meeting is by the amount of humor, laughter and conversation. Certainly as a facilitator you’ll need to monitor the unproductive behaviors (tangent takers, jokers, know-it-all’s, side conversations, etc) – but part of creating a memorable meeting is making sure that there is a positive emotion that is generated. Think about some “ice breakers” that can engage your participants. Bring a smile and your positive energy.
Sometimes as meeting facilitator you need to make sure people feel “safe” when negative comments or remarks are shared. Make sure that you continue to provide a place where people can share what they are feeling – in a way that is constructive and that builds up (not tears down).
People may forget all of the topics that are discussed (that is why meeting Minutes are so important) but they will not forget how they “feel.” You can create the good feeling by creating a culture that says “I’m glad you are here.” And “You matter.”
by Jan Dwyer Bang on January 10, 2011
Have you ever heard a speaker whose humor seemed so comfortable, that it even seemed spontaneous? I used to think that some speakers just “have this gift” and can “wing it.” After more than 20 years in the business, I am more and more convinced that those speakers who look like they “wing it” actually spend hundreds of hours in pre-speech practice. As much as I would like to “wing” speaking, an effective speech needs to be well-crafted and it also needs to be rehearsed and practiced often. With practice, humor can seem spontaneous and be so incredibly helpful in making a dramatic point.
So our first step in creating a memorable meeting is this – be organized! A well-run meeting does not just happen – it takes careful planning. Plan days ahead. Create an agenda. Communicate the agenda to others well in advance of the meeting. Ensure that those who have roles know their time limits. Get clear on the “end in mind” or purpose of your meeting. Anticipate who will be attending. Allow “padding time” for those that tend to go over time. Make sure that people have plenty of time to prepare for the meeting. Make sure people know “who is doing what – and when” as you summarize the meeting. And ensure that there are “meeting” minutes along with individuals assigned to action steps (and deadlines), distributed after the meeting. Start and end on time.
You’ll be surprised that with structure, there will be plenty of opportunities for creativity, relationship building and encouragement.
by Jan Dwyer Bang on January 5, 2011
I just returned from a Toastmasters meeting, having been away from a club for nearly 10 years. And I sure have missed Toastmasters! Many professional speakers like me began our professional speaking careers by getting hands-on training every week by participating in a local club meeting or by being a part of speech contests. Many of us have found ourselves drawn back to the warmth, enrichment, and personal and professional development that Toastmasters gives us. For those not familiar with Toastmasters, Toastmasters International is a world leader in helping people become more competent and comfortable in front of an audience. Nearly 260,000 members in over 12,500 clubs in 113 countries, this non profit organization (founded in 1924 at the YMCA in Santa Ana, California), is a proven and yes, even enjoyable way, to practice and enhance communication and leadership skills. Check out www.Toastmastersinternational.org to learn more about this organization and find a club that is near you!).
I was struck that, with structure and preparation, a simple lunch hour can be transformed into a wonderful memory. The meeting was well-organized, timely and fun. Within a structure, incredible creativity can blossom. For example, one woman did an interpretative reading from the play “The Waiting Room” that transported many of us to the injustices done to women “all in the name of beauty” down through the ages. I left the meeting with my mind and heart expanded from just being in attendance. I want to return!
What about you? Are you creating moments during a meeting that will encourage people to want to come back for more? You don’t need to be a Toastmaster to be able to create memorable meetings or events for your team. In the next three BLOG entries, I’ll be sharing creative ways that you can use immediately to create memorable memories in your next meeting.
by Jan Dwyer Bang on November 28, 2010
In this final installment in our series about the implications of a more collaborative workplace, we focus on what may seem like an apparent contradiction – unity in diversity. What does this mean? First, unity means that as an organization, department, or a team – every person needs to clearly identify what goal or mission they are striving towards as a collaborative team. There needs to be a unified effort or mission to achieve the goals or mission of the team. Second, but in this unity- there needs to be an honoring of the diversity of the people involved. Diversity in personalities, skills, talents, backgrounds, experience, education, genders, language, culture, etc. We are thus all going in the same direction while retaining our own unique talents. An organization that can successfully do these two things – be clear on the mission as well as invite and honor and celebrate the diversity of talent – is able to effectively thrive in this new type of collaborative workplace. Here are some questions to ask yourself:
- Do you currently conduct a diversity class for all your employees?
- What are you doing to ensure that you are recruiting and interviewing well-qualified people who bring diversity into the workplace?
- Are all your managers aware of your state and federal regulations as they relate to interview questions, hiring and firing, professional development opportunities, and tuition reimbursement?
by Jan Dwyer Bang on November 15, 2010
In this new workplace, every person on your team needs to know the ways in which conflict can be resolved. Let’s focus our attention on conflict by highlighting three issues:
- What is your own definition of conflict? Some of us think of fight, battle, and tension and certainly some conflict involves these negative influences. But a much more “neutral” working definition is to consider that conflict is a situation when your wishes differ from those of another person.
- Create norms around conflict. What are some guidelines that you can agree to as a team that can help every team member effectively deal with conflict. For example, some norms include that each team member is encouraged to go to the person he/she is having a challenge with directly, rather than engage in negative gossip about the person. Another norm is that if you should hear negative reports about any other team member, that you ask the person if they have talked with the person first.
- Incorporate a conflict resolution process. There are a number of conflict process management steps out there – here’s one that I’ve found helpful with other teams:
Step 1: Clearly identify the area of conflict
Step 2: List areas of agreement
Step 3: List areas of disagreement
Step 4: Determine the source of conflict
Step 5: Problem solve
Have you ever been in a meeting that didn’t allow you to meet other people? Other than strictly an informational meeting, every meeting has the potential of providing another benefit, and that is – the benefit of building relationships with each other. There are countless ways you can structure time for relationship building during or after your meeting. Here are some practical (and quick) ways you can encourage relationship building in your next meeting: (Note: These ideas can work with both intact work teams or meeting where people don’t know each other very well).
