Recently, Jennifer Kahnweiler (PhD
and President of
AboutYOU, Inc. a consulting firm based in Atlanta, GA) interviewed me for
information for her teleseminar on Mastering Meetings
for Introverts on May 7. In a 3-part series of postings, I will be listing the
tips that I gave her. As always, feel
free to leave a comment and I will be glad to respond. Happy reading!
To see more information about or to
register for the teleseminar, go to: http://aboutyouinc.com
The Top 8 things to do if you are
the meeting leader or facilitator…
1. Prep
invitees to make them better participants. Make
sure each participant knows why they were invited. Do they have particular expertise or
experience with the topic to be discussed or a decision to be made? Make sure you let them know you want them to
share it – and you will make sure everyone will be heard. Also, send out the agenda and any necessary pre-reading
in advance in enough time to actually be read. Introverts like to be fully prepared and dislike surprises and being put
on the spot, while extroverts love spontaneity.
2. Use
“strategic seating”. Use name tents if possible, and
place introverts in the more seats in the room – in a middle seat at the base
of the U, at a middle seat on the side if using a board room table. Place dominant players in the less visible
seats – at a corner of the U, at a far end from the meeting leader, surrounded
on both sides by neutral or quieter participants.
3. Have good ground rules – and get participants to police themselves. Two great ground rules that I recommend to groups with an unequal level of participation between introverts and extroverts is “Everyone participates” and “Speak in Headlines”. Remind them that everyone was invited because they have unique information or point of view to share (see above). In order to make sure everyone gets the benefit of hearing these diverse perspectives (which leads to better decisions), ask people to police themselves throughout the meeting to ensure they are not “over or under participating”.
Tips 4-8 coming next!
No matter what, you always have at least one team member that doesn't play fair. As a leader, how can you encourage overbearing personalities to play by the ground rules without ridiculing them at the same time?
Posted by: Crystal | April 14, 2008 at 04:13 PM