Making Meetings Work
Length
25 hours; ten 2½-hour meetings, five 5-hour meetings, or three all-day meetings.
Description
During a career in Government, Business, or Industry, the typical professional will spend many hours in conferences and meetings, usually as a general participant, but occasionally as an organizer or leader. Some meetings are quite productive, but many others are inadequately prepared, haphazardly conducted, and unnecessarily long.
Making Meetings Work will show students how to anticipate certain problems inherent in meetings and to eliminate the possibility that these problems will occur. The course has the following objectives:
- To help students understand the role that meetings play in the management of their organization.
- To help students understand why participants behave as they do in meetings and the world in general.
- To help students develop leadership qualities.
- To help students learn problem-solving and conflict-resolution techniques.
- To encourage students to become active and positive participants in meetings.
- To improve listening skills.
- To demonstrate that meetings can be a useful mechanism for managers who wish to check the soundness of their ideas and methods.
Method
After the instructor has provided background, the students will lead and participate in meetings. These meetings will be videotaped so that students can—
- Review any element of a discussion they may have misunderstood.
- Understand how discussions get off track or, conversely, stay on track.
- Evaluate the communications effectiveness of their participation and that of other employees.
Each student is expected to lead at least one meeting. By having to lead a meeting, students not only learn leadership skills and develop confidence in interacting with a group, but also learn to appreciate the difficulties and problems of others who must chair these meetings.
Students are also expected to offer constructive criticism of meetings conducted by other members of the class.
Applicability
The skills taught in this course apply to—
- One-on-one meetings between coworkers.
- One-on-one meetings between an employee and a supervisor.
- Office, group, branch, laboratory, or division meetings.
- Meetings of a larger group, such as a committee, problem-solving team, task force, configuration control board, source evaluation board, or accident investigation board.
Materials
The Communications Skills Company will furnish materials specifically developed or carefully selected for the course.
Class Size
No more than 15 students a class. The class size is deliberately limited to give each student an opportunity to lead one or several meetings. When times for discussion, review of the videotape, critique, and breaks are all added together, each meeting leader will be allotted approximately 1 hour for his or her meeting.
Price
Call 256-883-6310 for pricing information.