Mike and Mark discuss a friend’s stalled technical career. What’s the secret to reinvigorating his career?

Mark and Mike discuss the single most effective management tool - the one-on-one.

Mark and Mike continue their discussion on the single most effective management tool available today - the weekly one-on-one.

In the podcast, we refer to both a written summary of the key points for conducting one-on-ones, as well as a form useful for documenting your one-on-ones.

In today’s show we continue our conversation on one-on-ones. In addition to a brief review (very brief — not a substitute for listening to the previous two shows!), we review a number of questions and finer points:

1. I did one, and it was extremely awkward. How long will it take to get used to them?
2. In the first one, some of my folks were scared - why?
   In my first one, they didn’t seem too open to share personal info - what can I do about that?
3. My folks didn’t like me taking notes. What do I do?
4. I don’t like taking notes - can I just chat with them?
5. How do I follow up on old items?
6. What do I do if someone keeps reporting that they haven’t done something? I’ve got a forum to talk to them, but what do I say?
7. How can I reduce my folks coming to me between O3s with stuff that is best covered in the O3?
8. What if someone doesn’t show?
9. What if my team is spread across the entire continent, or one of my folks is travelling that week … Can I do these over the phone? And if so, what should I do differently?

How to do you feel about most of the meetings you attend? Are they productive, or generally considered a waste of time? Do you attend too many meetings? How do others value the meetings you run? If you are like most managers we know, your experience in running and participating in meetings is less than ideal.

Today’s show is the first of 2 or 3 shows to focus on running effective meetings. If you follow the guidelines we present here, your meeting will be much more effective, you’ll have less of them, and your individual and organizational performance will soar. And, it’s not hard!

A detailed outline of the podcast is located here. In addition, we’ve also provided you a Meeting Agenda Template that implements the guidelines we’ve discussed on today’s show.

Today we cover the second in our series on effective meetings.

A detailed outline of this week’s and last week’s podcast is located here. Also, be sure to check out the Meeting Agenda Template. We think you’ll find the template useful in improving the effectiveness of your meetings.

Today we wrap-up our conversation on effective meetings, as well as answer some listener questions on meetings, one-on-ones, and feedback.

The manager that doesn’t have to make at least one presentation each week is fairly rare. Today, we begin the discussion on making effective presentations, beginning with some general guidelines governing the use of tools like Microsoft PowerPoint.

During the podcast, we make reference to a great book by Barbara Minto, “The Pyramid Principle: Logic in Writing and Thinking”. Here’s a link to her book on Amazon. It’s one of our favorite books on management communications and you simply can’t go wrong by purchasing copies for both you and your subordinates.

As we note during the show, Mike will be traveling to Europe this week. Most likely we will not be publishing a podcast next week. And, if we do, it will be mid-week instead of Monday. We’ll be back on schedule the following week!

One of the most challenging aspects of being a manager is leading people who are remote to you. Sometimes it’s one team member being offsite; sometimes entire teams are spread across the country or even the globe, or even just across a corporate campus. All these situations are examples of “virtual” teams…and managing a virtual team is notably harder than managing a group that are co-located. And, these suggestions work well for project teams that may be in the same location but are matrixed together.

This cast addresses the special difficulties virtual teams present. First, we briefly discuss teams in general, and then we outline the three specific steps a ‘virtual’ manager can take to turn her workgroup into a team:

1. Pay special attention to hiring and interviewing,
2. Spend money to have a face to face meeting, and
3. Special rigor about team communications.

In this special podcast for our registered subscribers, we’re going to share Mark’s favorite tool … the Meeting Introduction.

The Meeting Introduction

If you’re leading a meeting where a team is being formed, or a project group is meeting for the first time, I recommend you use this tool to start off well. In fact, it is so effective, it is my all-time favorite manager tool. I’ve been leading meetings as a manager, leader and now consultant and facilitator for 20+ years. I’ve seen hundreds of ways to do this, and used many of them myself. This tool is by far the simplest to understand and the easiest to remember for everyone.

There are many consultants and “experienced” managers who will pooh-pooh this approach. They will moan when you introduce it, and say they’ve seen it before, and, “it’s so corny”. Most of them will argue with your choice of icebreaker when in fact they are making a statement that spending time on people stuff is a waste. They are dead wrong. Ignore them.

I’m an engineer – I like things to be short and sweet, and despite my love for every human being, I am intellectually inclined to avoid folks who don’t do things the way I think they ought to. I am fine with it emotionally – I love diversity, and often am moved to tears by watching someone do something I simply could not do. Here’s an engineer example. Mike and I love it when one of us calls the other, who answers his cell phone and says, “heymancallyouback.” He knows it’s me (or vice versa), and is telling me he can’t talk, but wanted me to know that even though he couldn’t, he saw it was me and am glad I called. That’s engineer respect for you. I once exchanged emails with a good friend of mine, a gifted manager at a hospital client of mine. “Lunch?” “When?” “Noon tomorrow Pasta Bella.” “Done.” Seven words, four mails (3 of them one word long), and a great meal was had by all. So, in all my years of introducing people this way, I’ve been pushed a hundred times to cut it out to save time. I’ve despaired often that ‘we’re never gonna get through this agenda if we spend all this time on the intro thing!’ Clients have deleted it from draft agendas, and I put it back in.

Because every single time, when I ask for feedback after a session, the introductions get the most frequent and most powerful positive response. I don’t argue with large numbers.

I’ve come to understand that the group knows. No individual necessarily knows, but the group does. They know that they’re not comfortable yet. They know that all the great memories they have of teams and projects that worked were of human connection, great interpersonal communication, trust and openness.

And you can’t have that if you don’t know each others’ names.

Here, then, is how to conduct an introductory meeting. May it serve you well. - Mark

You can use this technique as a meeting entirely unto itself, or as the kickoff for an all day meeting or half day session. It should be the first significant item on the agenda for the day/meeting, after your welcome, purpose, agenda and groundrules (all of which shouldn’t take more than 20 minutes total.)

I know what you might be thinking here. ‘Gosh! I have 4 hours – eight to noon. You’re saying I’m supposed to spend 20 minutes on the admin stuff, and then spend even more time on the introductions?’

Yes.

As a general rule, I determine the amount of time needed on the agenda by taking the number of attendees and multiplying by 3. That’s the number of minutes you need to do this intro/icebreaker* well.

[* - A note about icebreakers: I never call this an icebreaker. I have grown to dislike the term. Too many facilitators and HR people call anything fun or energetic that may not do a good job of introducing people an ‘icebreaker’. It may be right that they’re breaking the ice by having someone do something silly, but it’s a subversion of the real reason to break the ice: to get to know each other. If you don’t know others’ names and a little about them, it may be an ‘icebreaker’, but you’re not meeting your team’s needs for inclusion.]

So, if you have 15 people, you need 45 minutes. It is meeting suicide to try to do it in less time. If you try it, don’t tell anyone you learned the process from me. If you have 6 people, 20 minutes (always round up) is good. You get the idea. Just to be clear, the underlying principle here is that you must have time for this introductory technique on the agenda.

Yes, you can use this with 4 or even 3 people. I urge you to do so! It is a lovely nod of your head that you’re not assuming that just because the group is small, it is somehow magically going to gel. However, never schedule less than 15 minutes for it on the agenda. Don’t schedule 10 minutes for 3 people – it takes a few minutes to set up.

You can use this on groups as large as 25. I have used it with that many, and yes, I scheduled 75 minutes for it. You might think that it would get boring, or folks would get fidgety about starting the training. Nope. If I only have a 4 hour initial meeting for a project kickoff, I would absolutely use an hour plus of that for this exercise.

So, now you’ve got the time on the agenda, and you’re ready to start. Not exactly. First, you have to get your materials in order. You’re going to need enough flipchart paper for everyone to have one sheet, enough markers (not counting the yellow ones) for everybody to have at least one, and tape to be able to tape their sheets up to a flip chart easel or a wall.

It’s actually a helpful device to have the markers and paper piled in the middle of the floor when the session starts! Also, I like to rip the tape in advance, in 3 inch long strips, 2 strips for each person who will introduce themselves (and you WILL be introducing yourself, whether you’re a part of the group or just facilitating.)

What’s more, you’ll want to have a sample sheet prepared, to show everyone what theirs will look like. I don’t recommend you show them yours – make one that looks like the one at the bottom of this document,

Now it’s time to start!

After you learn the most important rule of all introductions.

Whatever you do, once you start this exercise, under no circumstances EVER are you to hurry the process along. Never encourage people to rush. Never manage to a time deadline at all. If you get behind*, DO NOTHING. The people you rush will feel like second class citizens. In the big scheme of things, one meeting running over is not the end of the world.

* - If you get ahead, it is okay to slow things down a little if 3-4 folks go really quickly and you feel like you’re going to finish way early. It’s not a problem finishing early – the problem is the group doesn’t bond if they rush.

To begin, introduce this introductory exercise this way:

“It’s time to get to know one another better. We have an excellent tool, where each one of you gets to introduce yourself to the group. It’s simple and fun. In just a moment, when I say “GO”, each of you is going to come up and grab a marker and a piece of flip chart paper. Then you’re going to have about 3 minutes to prepare a sheet of your own, like this one on the easel (or on the wall).” You’ll write your name on top – first and last. Below that, you’ll write your role – however you define it. Then, in the middle of the sheet, draw a picture that represents your life in some way. It could be a house, a flower, pictures of mountains you love to visit, or a drawing showing your family. Look, as you can see from the example, you needn’t be a good artist. Being a bad artist does not exempt you from this exercise! I’ve drawn stick figures for my family, and that’s as good as I can get… and that is absolutely FINE.”

Then, at the bottom, below your picture, you’ll write something – sort of a note to yourself – so that when you tell us about your sheet, you’ll remember Something No One Here Knows About You (SNOHKAY). You might write down “mascot” if you want to tell us that you were your high school’s mascot. You might write “crochet”, and tell us, “none of you know it, but I love to crochet and have been to a couple of conventions on it. I love it!”

What you share needn’t be earth-shattering, or impressive, at all. It should just be something fun, or different about you. For those of you who want to say, “everyone knows everything about me,” well, just think a bit harder. “Please, we’re not asking for secrets. That’s why we have down ATIPA: And That Is Professionally Appropriate. Nothing private.

“Share with us something that will help us know you a little bit better. “After everybody’s had 3-4 minutes, we’ll start having each of you introduce yourself. If you’re nervous about getting in front of the group, well, start now! Because each of you IS going to get in front of the group and walk us through your sheet.

“It’ll go like this. You’ll bring your sheet to the front of the room – random order, other than I will go first to remind you how – and you and I will tape up your sheet to the wall/easel. Please note I don’t want to tape your sheet to the paper… I’m going to tape it to the metal/plastic on the easel. You’ll face the group, and say, ‘Hi, I’m Mark.; You’ll pause, because the group will say back, ‘HI, MARK!’ You’ll then tell us your role – help us understand it a little if it’s different than anyone else’s in the room. Then, describe your picture to us. If there are stick figures, tell us who or what they are. Elaborate a little for us.

“Then, tell us about the something nobody knows. As an example of that, I wrote the number 37. When I came up, I would say, “I have broken 37 bones in my body. Fingers, toes, ribs, arm, leg, head, nose, face, etc.

“When you’re done, give us a second to show you some appreciation – we’re all going to clap for you. For some of us, speaking to a group is hard, and we want you to know you did well, and we’re glad you’re here.

“Then, I will help you take it down, and you will use the tape still on it to tape it somewhere to one of the walls in the room, and they’ll stay up the rest of the day today (or meeting). We’ll be able to admire our artwork the entire time. “That’s what we’re going to do. Everybody comes up, one at a time, and we get to know each other a bit.

“Any questions? GREAT. You can work anywhere you want, the tables, the floor, tape it to the wall to do it, whatever.” Okay…GO!!!!”

Now, you give them 3-4 minutes to work on their sheets. If you haven’t done yours, you can do it now, but I usually already have mine prepared so I can walk around and compliment participants on what they’re doing. Nice! Can’t wait to hear about THAT! GREAT artist over here…

Give them a 30 second warning. “THIRTY SECONDS!”

Then ask them to wrap it up. “Okay, time’s about up. Finish up, and I will tape mine up and get us started.”

It is absolutely critical that you go first. You will want to set a tone of enthusiasm, smiling and engaging the group, and not taking only 5 seconds to speed through it, but not talking for 5 minutes either. It’s okay to tell a story during the “SNOHKAY” portion…just don’t enjoy talking to the group too much. Make sure you pause to allow them to say “HI” and wait at the end, prompting them if necessary to applaud.

Now your job switches to facilitating them coming up one at a time. You’ll be busy, first helping each person put up their sheet, and then standing away from the presenter to allow them to be center stage.

You play a key role in keeping the group positive and energetic during this time. You certainly should be the loudest person clapping, and you will have to, for the first couple of folks, lead/remind everyone to say, “Hi, _____!”

To maintain some energy, move with energy to assist each person. Don’t saunter – the right move is much closer to a hop or skip. Show the group that you are serving them, that you are willing to work hard for their experience to be a good one. Once each person has presented, wrap up the exercise this way: “Thanks to each of you for sharing yourself with the group. That was time well spent. Let’s take a ____ minute break; be back at ______.”

That’s how you facilitate the most effective introduction exercise I’ve ever used.