MEETING DESIGN Mark Lenoir Michael RoePrincipal Assistant Principal

Deliverables

1.Tools you can expect to use immediately with your staff

2.How to reinforce the Professional Learning Community

3.Access to Resources and Structuring Devices

4.How to use Theoretical Framing to Measure Process

5.How to use Conflict to drive Change and Meeting Design

6.Build Leadership Capacity

Been to any really great

meetings lately?

Been to any deadly meetings

lately?

Please reflect on these two questions and

share with a partner your thoughts.

What made some meetings more effective than others?

Effective Meetings

• Productivity (competency)• Creativity (skill)• Efficiency (ability)• Participation

(cooperation/team)• Commitment (responsibility)

What Makes an Effective Meeting?

• Common focus on content• Common focus on process• Open and balanced conversational flow• Individuals protected from attack• Roles and responsibilities clearly

defined and agreed upon• Goals are accomplished

Why Do We Have Meetings?

• Solve a problem• Make a decision• Make a plan• Report and Present• React and Evaluate

Lencioni’s (2004) Model

• Meetings should be interactive• Meetings should be relevant• Conflict (an anxious situation

needing resolution) is necessary

Four Key Meetings

1. Huddle (5)2. Weekly Tactical (45-90)3. Strategic (2-4 Hours)4. Off Site (1-2 Days)

With a partner…

Would you rather go to a movie or a meeting?

Daily Huddle

• Purpose and Format– Share daily schedules and activities

• Keys to Success– Don’t sit down– Keep it administrative– Don’t cancel – even when some people

can’t be there

Weekly Tactical

• Purpose and Format– Review weekly activities– Resolve Tactical obstacles and issues

• i.e. Game Management

Keys to Success:1. Don’t set agenda until after initial reporting

2. Postpone Strategic Discussions

Monthly Strategic

• Purpose and Format– Discuss, analyze, brainstorm– Decide upon critical issues affecting

long term success

• Keys to Success– Limit to one or two topics– Prepare and do research– Engage in good conflict

Quarterly Off-Site

• Purpose and Format– Review Strategy and industry tends– Competitive landscape – Key personnel and team development

• Keys to Success– Get out of office– Focus on work– Limit social activities– Don’t overburden or over structure the schedule

Consider Potential Costs

• Organizations in general spend between 7% and 15% of their personnel budgets on meetings.

• Do people walk away from our meetings energized?

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Tips for Improving Meetings

Traditional• Leader directs,

controls• Leader’s authority

and responsibility acknowledged by members

Improved• Members OWN the

meeting• All have

responsibility, all contribute

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Tips for Improving Meetings (continued)

Model I• The leader

discourages expression of feelings or emotions believing they are disruptive to objective, logical thinking

Model II• Feelings, emotions

and conflict are considered legitimate factors in the discussion process

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Tips for Improving Meetings (continued)

Model I• The leader

discourages expression of feelings or emotions believing they are disruptive to objective, logical thinking

Model II• Feelings, emotions

and conflict are considered legitimate factors in the discussion process

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Tips for Improving Meetings (continued)

Model I• The leader

suppresses a disruptive member by taking the offender away from the group

Model II• Any problem is

faced and solved within the group and by the group

The Importance of Debriefing

“Debriefing meetings serves an important function…it helps teachers transfer the positive emotions that they experienced in the meeting to other settings…such as their classrooms.”

“The positive ideas that you use in your staff meetings will help to establish and nurture the kinds of positive emotions that your teacher will need to stay motivated and focused in their work with their student.”

“…Many teachers become accustomed to feeling negative emotions in staff meetings and do not notice the positive aspects of a meeting at first unless someone either points them out or helps them see these positives.”

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A West Side Story

Internal Factors 1. 60+ Teacher Turnover Rate in 2 Years 2. Procedural Changes/Structural Changes 3. Transition of new Administration 4. Program Improvement 5. PLC – Isolation to Collaboration

External Factors 1. Economy 2. NCLB and Program Improvement 3. District and “Prescriptive” Directives 4. Time for PLC’s

The Process: Double Loop

1. Frame2. Environmental Scan3. Delphi Process4. Structuring Device5. Challenges6. Solutions7. PLC WASC Alignment

Stage II: Environmental Scan

• 4 Critical Frames Covered:

– Organizational Structures and Roles– Vision and Mission– Decision Making– Communication

Results Quantified: Modified Policy Delphi

Four Themes Emerged:

1. Master Schedule 2. Discipline3. Professional Learning Community

(Culture)4. Decision-Making and Communication5. Lenoir Factor – a Tough Conversation

(Recorded)

Structuring Device and Feedback

Goal: Get feedback out quickly, and allow for stakeholders to clearly define the challenges in each area (Peel the Onion)– Freedom and Anonymity critical– Common Language and Reality– Agreement on “real” issues and needs– Build Capacity and Trust– Meeting structure needed for process

• Open Space Technology (Modified)

OST Repeat: October - December

Key Findings: 1. Embrace the Process (Relationship Building in Natural Ways)

2. Perceived Issues v. Reality (Lack of Trust with One Another)

3. Capacity takes Shape 4. Internal Resisters forced into the “Open”

(Teaching is the 2nd most private act)

5. Balance b/ Relationship and Task

Alignment Phase: February - May

• Deliberate Distress (Testing)– Forced Crucial Conversations

• Alignment of CIA (Math)• Philosophy: Acceleration over Remediation• Values and Perceptual Conflicts dealt with• Solidarity in Vertical and Horizontal

Communication• Political Savvy and Trusted Relationships• Vulnerability -“I don’t know…lets explore that”

Context for Capacity

• Alignment to WASC• Professional Learning Communities• Site Goals

– Results driven from all stakeholders– Model I Micro-Management Style (Knee-Jerk)

Destroyed– Principal as Servant and Collaborator

Central Tenets

• Center Point• Shared Values• Mission and Vision• Sacrifice• “Walk-the-Talk”

– Lead by Example– Trust– Communicate Clearly– Prepare to Win– Clarify Procedures and Systems– “Can Do Attitude”– Confront Failure

MISSION VISION

LEAD BY EXAMPLE TRUST COMMUNICATE CONFRONT RESULTS

Patrick Lencioni

Rick DuFour & Becky Dufour

Jim Collins

Linda Lambert

Mike Schmoker

PEOPLE WHO ENDORSE THESE ELEMENTS OF MEETINGS

Don’t believe everything you hear!