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Peak Performance™ From Effective Meetings

The Success Trilogy Of Team Meetings™

The Success Trilogy of Team Meetings™ addresses three areas of specific attention. The elements of the trilogy compose a backdrop against which continuous improvement in the use of meeting time will lead to peak performance in exchanging and using team members' skills and knowledge. Implementation of the Success Trilogy reduces the frustration normally associated with meetings and leads to increased productivity all around, simply Peak PerformanceTM.

You are welcome to take a copy of this program and try it in a systematic way to organize and conduct your meetings. You are guaranteed wondrous results if you stick to the discipline it will inject into your meetings.

The three areas of focus which greatly influence the outcome of meetings and help decide the success or failure of such a time consuming endeavour are definition of roles for participants, responsibilities of the facilitator and a set of procedures or guiding principles for smooth running meetings.

  • Definition Of The Main Roles In A Team Meeting

1.    The facilitator: manages the process, is impartial;

2.    The timer: keeps time meticulously according to the agenda, also impartial;

3.    The recorder: takes notes on team decisions; writes the minutes;

4.    The owners: those who own the issues for discussion;

5.    The resources: all other participants who can contribute their knowledge.

  • Responsibilities Of The Facilitator

1.    Explain the task at hand;

2.    Clarify the rules of the meeting (everyone must speak once before anyone speaks twice);

3.    Set the time duration of the meeting;

4.    Avoid rewarding latecomers;

5.    Initiate participants' introductions;

6.    Lead an ice breaker to lighten the air;

7.    Include all participants;

8.    Help the group deal with those who monopolize the discussion;

9.    Keep the process going - focus on the task or issue, ask effective questions, summarize the discussion, bring participants back to order;

10.  Take care of participants' well-being: call for stretch breaks;

11.  Recognize those who provide useful and helpful input to the discussion;

12.  Ensure that responsibility for action items is assigned and accepted;

13.  Ensure those responsible for action items understand their task;

14.  Help the assigned people to do follow-up on their action items;

15.  Encourage team members to persevere in doing the right thing.

  • Guiding Principles For An Effective Team Meeting

1.    Select a permanent meeting room; ensure that table, chairs, decorations, room temperature, lighting, room setting, clock, etc. contribute to a successful meeting;

2.    Meeting starts and ends on time;

3.    The role of facilitator rotates among the team members;

4.    Necessary tools are always available (flipchart, papers, pens, coffee, etc.);

5.    Divergence of opinions is encouraged (evaluation rather than judgment prevails);

6.    Sharing of ideas is the norm (no fear of embarrassment);

7.    Deal on the spot with performance deviations - latecomers, people who speak too much, non-contributors;

8.    Tough questioning is allowed (while respecting the person) ;

9.    An action plan is in place for each decision made;

10.  Meeting evaluation is part of the agenda;

11.  Those responsible commit to the follow-up plan and report on progress.

© Copyright Raymond Perras 1994

The use of this Success Trilogy of Team Meetings™ will ensure productive, pleasant and effective meetings for your team(s). A structured approach creating order in the exchanges inevitably will lead to harmony in the team.

The key to value-added meetings is the will of the participants to meet the pre-established objectives. Measuring the implementation of the Trilogy of Success will soon produce effective use of meeting time. It is recommended that time be set aside (5-10 minutes) on the agenda to evaluate each team meeting with respect to the application of the Trilogy. No more than three or four elements should be measured at once. As the team improves, further elements can be measured as explained in the teamwork skills matrix. Improvement will not happen unless you measure progress and plan to improve in your next meeting. Remember, if you fail to plan, you plan to fail.

If you would like more details on this program, please contact us by e-mail at repars1@sympatico.ca and ask about effective meeting skills development.

©Copyright Raymond Perras 1997-2013