1. Delegate your note-taking in meetings
Translated from the French original.
The other day, I was in a project meeting. Four people on Zoom. Everyone fully present.
Caroline, the facilitator, had prepared things beautifully. The agenda was detailed; we had received it in advance; we were all aligned on what we had to do.
Very quickly, I got bored.
It was not going quickly enough.
I quickly realised we would not finish on time.
Caroline was facilitating the meeting. At the same time, she was typing on her computer. She was taking notes and preparing the meeting minutes.
With two consequences:
– it created pauses in the discussion, as we frequently fell silent to let her type,
– it kept her from being at the heart of the discussions and playing her role as facilitator to the full.
After the meeting, I called her:
Let’s try something different next time.
Here is what I suggest.
You facilitate.
I note down the decisions and the actions as we go.
I read them back to everyone at the end.
Then I hand you my notes.
You can then prepare and send the meeting minutes.
Shall we give it a go?
My prediction: our meeting will be shorter.
The image of the Chinese circus and its spinning plates then came back to me.
The facilitator is there to keep all the plates spinning. He keeps an eye on each one and makes sure none of them falls. That generally does not leave much time for anything else…
The following time, Caroline gave it a try.
We had time at the end of the meeting to tell each other it was the best one we had ever had.
You are facilitating a meeting? Think about delegating your note-taking.
You received this blog post as a push because I know the subject of meetings interests you.
Indeed, I have decided to take up the challenge of publishing one post about meetings every working day until 17 December 2021 (that is, 30 posts).
You will not receive the next ones, unless you click on the little crown in the post header.
If you wish, you can even comment on them, or ask me to tackle particular topics. Don’t hesitate.
Ecole Internationale de Réuniologie
#reuniologie #meeting #louisvareille #ecoleinternationaledereuniologie #reunionite #reuniologue #reunion
If you would like to receive the next posts, do click and sign up to the blog page for free.
