4 Steps to Get the RIGHT Participation

Meetings that lack participation can be awkward and uncomfortable—such as those characterized by the leader who asks a question and when he gets no responses, quickly fills the void with “OK, well here is what I was thinking….” At the opposite extreme, meetings in which participants dominate, ramble, negate everything, introduce tangents, or “participate” in other counterproductive ways can be as or even more painful to experience. 
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Yes, you want participation—but not all participation is created equally. If you expect people to automatically participate productively in response to “I’d like to have everyone’s participation today,” you will likely be disappointed. Instead, use this 4-step process:

1. ​Step One: Define what your desired participation for a given meeting looks like. Desired participation will not be static—it will and should vary for different meetings, based on your planned outcomes. A few examples of shifting participation needs include: remaining open to alternative approaches, two ideas from each person on X, identifying a positive aspect of an idea prior to critiquing it, and so on.
2. Step Two: Communicate your participation expectations before the meeting. If you open your meeting with your expectations—you are starting late. Participating effectively during a meeting often requires preparing beforehand. You can use phrases such as these in your pre-meeting conversations or emails: “To ensure our time is productive, I am asking each of you to dedicate 20 minutes of preparation time to the following actions…” or “We will open the meeting with X, please arrive ready to share your Y.”
3. Step Three: Reiterate your participation expectations at the meeting’s start. One way to do this is to integrate them into your charted social agreements. It is harder to lose sight of expectations when they are prominently displayed.
4. Step Four: Restate your participation expectations as needed throughout. The bonus to charting your expectations, is that you can make a touchstone of them during the meeting—proactively and reactively. For example, transition to an agenda item with “Now is when I really need us all to X” for a proactive restatement. Or try “I’m sorry that I have let us get off track, to ensure we wrap up on time, let’s X” to diplomatically restate an expectation reactively.

 
Applying this four-step process will get you the right participation in your next meeting. And, if you deal extensively with one-on-one meetings, take a look at  4 Ways to Manage Disruptions in One-On-One Meetings.
 
Looking for more guidance on boosting your productivity in meetings? Grab your copy of Don’t Waste My Time: Expert Secrets for Meetings that Inspire, Engage and Get Results in the Smarter In An Hour series.  With it and 60 minutes, you will be on your way to boosting productivity!  And, if your team needs to improve time management because of too many ineffective meetings, consider EdTrek’s Don’t Waste My Time™ training course.
      

​©2019 Kimberly Devlin, All rights reserved