We've all been in meetings that haven't gone the way we want them to. Not just meetings, conversations, presentations, workshops, off-sites. When it doesn't go well, the team becomes unproductive, morale drops and relationships start to deteriorate. When a meeting goes well however, people feel boyd, inspired, and motivated to do what's asked of them. The reason a meeting goes well is simple. It's usually because the guidelines for how it's going to run are so clear at the beginning, that it can't go wrong. Recently, I was coaching a team on how to have influential conversations. They all went quiet when I asked how they ran their meetings. They then told me about their manager. In every meeting, the manager would go off topic, and by the end of the meeting, they wouldn't have achieved anything of what they'd set out to. It was even more frustrating because it was so difficult to get time with this manager. The manager was putting more and more pressure on them to perform and to reach their targets, but they couldn't do it without his approval on their strategy. Unfortunately, their meetings became useless. As you can imagine, the relationship between the manager and the team started to disintegrate very quickly. The team lost morale, and started to under-perform, and the manager just couldn't work out why. Keeping a meeting on track is the most important part of a meeting. However, often in meetings, not only are the outcomes not achieved, but people don't even know what the outcomes are in the first place. Why? Because they're not agreed on at the beginning of the meeting. In the very near future, there won't be a need for meetings. You'll have an electronic persona. Someone will launch a request to that electronic persona, and based on the roles you've set, the request will either be accepted or rejected, and sent back to be modified. This is where we're going, but for now, we're still meeting. So let's get it right. If a meeting isn't lead properly, it's like a soccer game without a referee, mayhem. Now, this can be challenging if the person who set up the meeting isn't leading it or taking charge. If you can infiltrate your organization with the structure we're about to go through, or structure of your own, everyone will buy you coffees for the rest of your career. Once you've done your brainstorms for WISH and you've worked out what you want them to think, feel, and do by the end of the meeting, and you've set your intention, then you can go into the meeting. You then connect with that other person or people, and you build rapport through matching them. Then it comes to that time when you're about to start the meeting. In order to lead the meeting well, it's best to answer these four questions. This work comes from Bernice McCarthy, an expert in adult education. She created a systemized thinking and learning structure called 4MAT. It's been used in businesses, corporates, peace core, and the Navy. But her original experience comes from teaching children. The question she asked was, how can I engage all of these children? How can I make sure that they all learn what they need to and how can I do so consistently? Her knowledge was then applied to adults and found to satisfy all learning styles, in just four simple questions. You have a preference for one of the questions, possibly two. They are, why. Why are we here? What. What information will we cover? How. How will we cover it? So what. So what does that mean? How does this relate to you running a meeting? If you want to engage everyone in that meeting, it helps to answer these four questions up front. Now the most impatient learners are the 'why' learners. If they don't know why they are there in the meeting, they'll switch off straightaway. They need a very compelling reason, which is directly related to what they need and want in that moment. That's why it's the first question you answer. Why are we here? Again, if you really want to know what is the most compelling reason for them, find out beforehand, ask them. It's pointless only focusing on what you want. If it's not relevant to them, they'll zone out and not participate. The 'what' learners need to know facts, data, information. Make sure you have the relevant data, research, and information to back up the reason for the meeting. The 'how' learners are much more patient. They don't care why the meeting is taking place, what information or data you have to back it all up, all they care about is what you're going to do. If you promise them that that'll do something, they'll wait patiently until that part. Finally, you have the 'so what' learners. They only process information by applying the information to their current situation. They ask questions such as, so what does that mean to me? So what does that mean in this situation? Lastly, in order to make everyone feel included in the running of the meeting, when you've answered the four questions, ask is there anything that anyone else would like to add or change. In that way, you've allowed everyone to give their input. It's rare that someone will add something at that stage. However, you don't know what's just happened before the meeting. Check in once you've set up the meeting, and ask for agreement and permission to start. Let me give you an example. Thank you for meeting to talk about the restructure. We'll cover the reason for the restructure, the process, and the time frame we're looking at. Firstly, Jemma will take us through the company vision for the next five years, and why the restructure is so crucial to achieve it. Then Sebastian will explain the process we need to go through, and I will then facilitate a discussion on the most appropriate time frame. You'll be asked your opinion based on your activity in each of your departments, is that okay? So that by the end of this conversation, we'll be very clear on what needs to get done and when. Would anyone like to add anything or are we ready to go? There you have it. If you're able to answer these four questions at the beginning of the meeting, you'll have them all engaged and you will also be clear on what the meeting outcome is. I know it sounds simplistic, and sometimes your meetings are far more complex. However, follow the why, what, how, so what, and you'll get there much faster. Got it? Got it.
