You are leading a meeting whose purpose is to decide whether your company should

Question

You are leading a meeting whose purpose is to decide whether your company should bid for a new piece of business. All the "right" people are there and are prepared to contrib- ute. You have introduced the participants and have discussed why each of them is at the meeting. You have reviewed the agenda, established operating guidelines, and are lead- ing a discussion of the first agenda item, which is how the new piece of business could fit into the company's strategic plan. You notice that Bob, the director of sales, is not mak- ing eye contact with anyone, is occasionaly drawing stick figures on his note paper, and just softly commented, "Who cares how this fits our strategy? Our strategy is completely off the mark." You look at your watch. Of the time you have allocated for this discussion, there are three minutes remaining for this agenda item. 1. In what ways does preparing an agenda in advance reduce the likelihood of these be- haviors? What other "before the meeting" strategies can be used to curb such behav- ior? Why do you think this strategy or approach would or would not be effective? 2. What options are available for a team member or team leader during the meeting to address this disruptive behavior? Why do you think this approach would or would not be effective? 3. What options are available for a team member or team leader at the end or just follow ing the meeting to address this disruptive behavior? Why do you think this approach would or would not be effective?

Explanation / Answer

The “Before the Meeting” strategy to curb such behaviors is to clarify the purpose of the meeting well in advance and then to communicate them effectively to the participants. In this case, I would first mention the importance of the new business line and how much revenue it contributes to the business which in turn results in an increase in the market share. I would use web tools like video conferencing to address the importance of the meeting. A visual impact is more effective than to just send messages via emails.

2. The best way to curb such behavior as a team leader of the meeting is to make Bob active in the meeting so that he controls the meeting. I would encourage Bob to give inputs on how to implement the new business unit. I would also highlight to everyone how valid his contributions are since he is the director of sales. This would be an effective approach because giving importance to his role and his opinion would motivate him to contribute more to the new business line.

3.After the meeting ends and before the next meeting it is important for a follow up. The minutes and the next meeting agenda should be typed and distributed to all the participants of the meeting. As a team leader I would mention the roles taken by the individuals and the action to be taken by them in the next meeting. For example, ACTION ITEM 1 –BOB. I would provide Bob the biggest task of addressing the pricing strategy for the new business unit. By encouraging Bob to do complicated and pertinent task, addressing the meeting and controlling the meeting in this aspect would curb the disruptive behavior and result into participative behavior.

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