Meetings are tricky. When done correctly, they can communicate information to the right parties or hammer out a sensitive issue. When done incorrectly, they can waste people’s time, make the meeting host look bad and de-motivate the people in attendance. It’s not overly difficult to have productive meetings; you just need to follow some basic guidelines.

Have a goal:

Never have a meeting for the sake of having a meeting. If you can’t list one or more outcomes that you expect from the meeting, then you shouldn’t have it.

Keep it small:

Only invite people that are needed to achieve the goals. If someone necessary to reach the outcome, such as a decision maker, can’t make it, reschedule it. There’s no sense in turning your meeting into a pre-meeting for the real McCoy.

Watch your time:

Respect everyone else’s time and make them respect your time. Start on time so people learn to not straggle in. End on time because people are busy and have places to go.

Stay on target:

Create an agenda with time limits and stick to it. If someone brings the conversation out on a tangent, reel it back in.

Narrow your focus:

If you don’t think you can get to everything in one meeting, then split it into two ahead of time. Then apply all these rules to each meeting – especially about only inviting those needed.

Offer pre-work:

Request attendees do work prior to the meeting such as reading a proposal. The meeting should focus on getting to an outcome, not reading through a document as a group.

Take side discussions offline:

Respect the time of all attendees. If something comes up in discussion that only affects some attendees, set up a new meeting to discuss it.

Consider an email blast:

If your meeting is simply to communicate information, consider an email blast. Status and procedural changes can often be communicated this way. If you’re looking to get people to ask questions and you feel the face to face time is needed, then a meeting is more appropriate.

Keep it short:

Try to keep all meetings under 30 minutes if at all possible. Meetings have a habit of stretching to accommodate the length of the room reservation. When attendees know they have limited time, they’re more likely to stay on track and focus on the topic.

Take notes:

Meeting minutes are a great way to keep people in the loop without having unnecessary people in attendance. People always feel the need to chime in at meetings so by not having them in attendance, you’ll save time.

Close the door:

If your meeting space has a door, close it. It cuts down on noise and makes people think twice before interrupting.

Give plenty of notice:

Sometimes this isn’t possible, but when it is, give people at least two days notice so they can do any prep work they need to ahead of time. Also, don’t schedule it too far out as people might put off any prep working figuring they have plenty of time.

Follow up with attendees:

Confirm with each attendee the day of the meeting that they’re planning to attend. You don’t want to have everyone gather only to find out that key person is out sick or had something else crop up.

Set up ahead of time:

If you need a projector or other equipment, give yourself 15 minutes to set up. You don’t want to have everyone sitting there waiting while you’re fumbling with your computer.

So these are just some ways you can have more effective meetings. Keep in mind that not all of these tips may apply to all situations. The key to any successful meeting is to focus on your outcomes and stay on target. Just doing those two things correctly are a huge step in the right direction.

Post from: Overnight Sensation

How to Have a Productive Meeting

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In the first part of this series, I covered a little bit about my own experiences as a club officer and some of the positive things that one can do to improve the overall health of a club. In this part, some of the tips will focus on the challenges that club leaders face.

As much as we do our best to make the club environment a positive, professional and supportive one, challenges do occur. I’ve seen evaluators rip apart speakers because they disagreed with their points on more than one occasion (and I’ve had it happen to me). I’ve also seen people start up conversations, both with the person next to them and via their cell phone, while someone else was giving a speech. I’ve also known of situations where conflicts have caused people to quit a club.

But on the bright side, conflict management is an important skill to succeed in the workplace (whether you work for yourself or someone else) and Toastmasters is a great place to get this type of experience. Although it’s great to have everything go smoothly during your term as a club officer, you’ll come out a stronger and more experienced leader if you face some challenges along the way. And the bigger the challenges, the stronger a leader you become.

So let’s finish up the top ten tips with the final five:

6: Deal with conflicts right away.

Again, conflicts happen and like everything else we like to procrastinate away, the longer it sits unattended the more it festers. If one person mistreats another, it’s the responsibility of the club leaders to deal with it. Talk to both parties – separately, if need be – and get to the bottom of things. Many times, the cause is a small misunderstanding that can be set straight when dealt with right away. Other times, it can be more serious and in extreme cases, a member may need to be asked to leave. In any case, you need to deal with it before it has an adverse effect on the club.

7: Make tough decisions when you have to.

When I was Club President, a number of members suggested that we join our local Chamber of Commerce. The club officers unanimously agreed that it would benefit the club so we brought it to a vote during a meeting. The club voted 11-7 in favor of joining the chamber, but the vote was challenged because we didn’t have two thirds of the members present(we were one shy). I was looked to for a final ruling (like the tie-breaking judge during a speech contest) so I decided that we join.

We could have done another vote at a future meeting but there was no guarantee we’d get two thirds of our ever growing club at any meeting. I wanted to move beyond the issue – since people on both sides were passionate about it, letting it linger on would have done more harm than good. Yes, we lost a couple members due to the decision, but we would have lost a lot more if we spent each meeting debating the issue. One of the downsides of being a leader is that not everyone will like all the decisions you make, but as long as you make decisions that you believe is in the best interest of the club, you’ll grow from these tough choices.

8: Challenge the status quo.

Our theme for the year was “Moving beyond your comfort zone” so as officers we challenged ourselves, but we also challenged our members to try new things. Again, we were met with some resistance such as “we tried that before and it didn’t work” or “that doesn’t work in Toastmasters.” But that didn’t stop us. I was always encouraging people to push the envelope and try new things.

My favorite example was that we had a woman who was a great speaker give a speech on a hot button issue. She was a lawyer and she gave a legal analysis of the issue without taking sides. This was the first time I had actually seen her act nervous during a speech. Afterwards, I spoke to her and asked her how she felt about the speech. She said it was the most nervous she had ever felt while giving a speech – even outside of Toastmasters. I told her I was glad she did it because she grew as a speaker that night.

A mistake that many Toastmasters make is that they get so set in their ways that they don’t want to do anything different. In all my public speaking classes, I discuss how public speaking is like bodybuilding. You have to change things up if you want to grow. To people who only speak in front of Toastmasters audiences, status quo is fine. But for those of us who speak (and desire to speak) beyond the club, it’s absolutely necessary to put yourself in new and challenging speaking situations.

9: Hold people accountable.

I was Vice President of Education the year before I became Club President and one of my biggest frustrations was people signing up for roles and either not showing up or backing out at the last minute. This carried on into the following year, especially with speeches, as we started out with a small active membership base.

There were a number of things we did to remedy this. First, we led by example and showed our commitment to the club. When we sent out the e-board meeting notes, it was clear that each of the officers were putting in a substantial effort to grow the club. Our commitment began to rub off on our members to the point where people would call ahead to let us know if there was a last minute emergency preventing them from attending a meeting.

The other big thing was that at each meeting we collected signups for roles for the next two meetings. As our club grew, roles started filling up so when someone had a speaking role, they were more likely to prepare for it knowing that it could be another two or three meetings before they’d have another chance.

10: Give credit where credit is due.

Running a Toastmasters club is truly a team effort so it’s important to recognize the people that make things happen. When I say that the group of people I worked with was fantastic, I’m not just saying it to be nice. These folks were truly dedicated to making the club the best it could be and each of them truly added some value to our e-board. We’d all recognize each other for our efforts and when someone in the club (members or officers) did something great, it was recognized. Again, not in a patronizing way but in a sincere and appreciating way – people want to know that their efforts are appreciated. Sure, you don’t want to overdo it and spend ten minutes praising someone for coming up with a creative theme for table topics. But taking the time to tell someone in sincere way that you learned something useful from their speech or that they did a great job planning your guest night is a sure way to make club’s morale healthier.

So with that being said, I want to once again thank Christina (V.P. Education), Heather (V.P. Membership), Sushmita (V.P. PR), Mark (Secretary), Kazia (Treasurer) and Bob (Sergeant at Arms) for your efforts four years ago. We’ve all grown so much because of your efforts and everyone who was a part of the club during that time benefited from your dedication.

To everyone else, here’s a bonus tip: have fun. Enjoy your Toastmasters experience and get to know your fellow members. Develop friendships and learn from each other. Give your best effort and make the most out of every speaking opportunity you can get.

If you have some tips or thoughts, I’d love to hear from you. Share your knowledge and experiences by leaving a comment.

Post from: Overnight Sensation

Toastmasters Success: Ten Tips to Become Presidential Distinguished – Part 2

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Since today is President’s Day, I figured it would be a good day to talk about leadership at the highest level. Whether you’re the President of the United States or the president of a company, being a successful executive requires some skills in addition to the ones necessary to excel at lower levels of management. Today we’ll look at the following three:

• Public Speaking and presentations.
• Managing egos.
• Charisma.

Each US President from George Washington to George W. Bush had these skills before becoming President (some were better than others) so we’ll use some Presidential examples.

Public Speaking:

Ronald Reagan was called “The Great Communicator,” JFK still inspires others with his words more than 40 years after his death and Abraham Lincoln’s civil war speeches were turning points in history. The higher up the chain of command that you are, the more you need to speak to groups. Just the like the President has to address joint sessions of congress and national conventions, company presidents need to address stockholders, employees and deliver keynotes at conferences. And when you give talks at this level, you have to be perfect from the words you choose to way you deliver them. People analyze your words in an attempt to read between the lines and watch your body language to figure out if you’re being insincere or trying to hide something.

So just being able to talk to a group isn’t enough. You need to be able to deliver a talk that gets your audience to take action. You want the audience to feel certain emotions. You want the audience to trust and respect your point of view. All of this requires extreme preparation – from getting a great speechwriter to practicing your talk in front of a room of advisors. Welcome to the big league of public speaking.

Managing Egos:

Napoleon Hill talks about how President Franklin Roosevelt got us out of the Great Depression in his book, “Think and Grow Rich” by using his communication skills. FDR, the only President elected four times, got the members of both houses of congress to go along with his plan – including people from the opposition party. He then got the state governors involved as well as community and religious leaders.

The President of the US has to get both houses of congress on board to pass any legislation. Company Presidents need to get their boards, star players and sometimes government officials on board to get things done – and these people typically have their own egos and agendas. This differs tremendously from getting the five people that work for you to do a good job – you need to negotiate, explain why your way is in their best interest, and sometimes do things you don’t want to you in order to get things accomplished.

Charisma:

When Bill Clinton walks into a room, all eyes suddenly turn to him. In the political world, former Presidents have a rock star like aura to them and are often able to turn around those that dislike them in a single conversation. Just like elected officials need to be liked by their constituents, company presidents need to be liked by their employees, customers and shareholders. Being able to win people over in a one on one situation is critical for success in any endeavor.

So that’s just a brief overview of how communication skills differ between executives and leaders. We’ll get into more details about these skills in later posts.

Post from: Overnight Sensation

Executive Leadership

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Too many people in leadership roles (business owners, managers, executives, etc…) believe that they deserve people’s respect simply because of their positions. Some go as far as demanding respect, presiding over their subordinates with an iron fist and using fear or threats to coax others to take action. This type of behavior may work in the short term, but people will resent you instead of respect you. So how can you earn respect as a leader? Here are some ways:

1: Treat others with respect.

The old saying that you need to give respect to get respect is true. Respect the decisions, opinions and feelings of those around you. Again, poor leaders feel the need to discredit those around them because they don’t believe that people below them on an org chart should know more than them.

Many ineffective leaders are arrogant enough to think that they are better than the people that work for them. These are the type of people that would be killed by friendly fire on a real battlefield – and in the corporate world, may find themselves the victim of a plot to oust them from their current role. So remember the Golden Rule: Treat others the way you’d like to be treated.

2: Admit it when you make a mistake.

Good leaders always admit when they make mistakes. We’re all human and we all mistakes. Making a mistake and trying to cover it up will make you look dishonest. Trying to place the blame on others will make you especially unpopular. Instead, fess up and lead by example. Showing others that it’s okay to make mistakes and learn from them will result in others being honest with you – everyone benefits.

3: Be consistent.

I once worked for someone that wouldn’t let his people work from home when they were expecting deliveries, but he himself would work from home when he had one. People resent this type of behavior as it separates people into two classes: the haves and the have nots.

Not abiding by your own rules makes you look like a hypocrite and you’ll lose the respect of those around you. Live by your rules and if you find that you can’t, consider losing the rule.

4: Lead by example.

It’s easy to tell others that they should do something or act a certain way, but it’s much more effective to show them. If you want your people to have clean desks, then make sure yours is clean. If you want people to show up to meetings on time, then make sure that you’re on time.

These suggestions are mainly common sense, but so many people refuse to think about anything but their own needs. Put yourself in the shoes of the other person and treat them the way you’d like to be treated. You may pleasantly surprised at the results.

Post from: Overnight Sensation

Earning respect as a leader

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