A Guide to Effective Meetings

Description

If you have sat through a meeting that could have been an email, this course starts there, with a checklist for deciding whether to meet at all. For facilitators, it covers five steps for running a meeting, a method for scheduling with less back-and-forth, how to write an agenda, and techniques for balancing participation and keeping the discussion on track. It also includes a five-step process for building consensus and six strategies for managing conflict when it breaks out in the room. For participants, later lessons cover how to speak up if you tend to stay quiet and how to voice disagreement without putting people on the defensive.

Three of the lessons include videos. The rest use checklists and sorting activities, and the course ends with a do-and-don’t review.

What you’ll be able to do

• Decide whether a meeting is needed or an email would do
• Run a meeting in five steps, from defining the objective to summarizing outcomes
• Schedule meetings with fewer rounds of email and keep them to the time allotted
• Write an agenda with logistics, objective, topics and time estimates, and send it a day ahead
• Balance participation, handle interruptions and bring a stalled discussion back to a decision
• Lead a group to consensus and manage conflict when it breaks out
• Speak up in meetings and voice disagreement respectfully

Who it’s for

Anyone who runs meetings or attends them. The facilitator lessons suit managers and project leads; the participant lessons suit anyone who finds it hard to be heard.

What’s inside

12 lessons, self-paced:

1. Introduction
2. 5 Steps for Running Effective Meetings
3. Scheduling Meetings
4. Creating a Meeting Agenda
5. Group Facilitation Techniques
6. Building Consensus in Meetings
7. Managing Conflict in Meetings
8. How to Be a Model Meeting Participant
9. Speaking Up in Meetings
10. Voicing Disagreement
11. Do’s and Don’ts
12. Summary

What you get

• 365 days of access from the date of purchase
• A certificate of completion when you finish the course
• Your place is saved, so you can stop and come back whenever you like
• Works on a computer, tablet or phone

You can also get this course, and every other course in the library, with All Access for $99.99 a year.