Our team meetings are quite a nightmare. Everyone talks at the same time and nobody listens. What can we do to make these meetings worthwhile to our team?

The Team Doc Says…

First make sure you are using an agenda for your team meetings. The agenda should identify the meeting purpose and have topics and time indicated.

Also define the ‘working agreements’ or ‘ground rules’ for your meetings. If your meetings are a ‘free for all,’ you probably either don’t have ground rules or your team has them and ignores them. If you don’t have ground rules, define them as a team. Get buy in from team members that they will abide by those ground rules. If your groundrules are being ignored, it’s time to establish a team role to help you keep your meeting on track. This role can assist the facilitator or meeting leader in helping team members adhere to the rules they have established.

Another good option to consider is to create a team ‘Talking Stick.’ This is some type of stick the team has chosen that indicates who has permission to talk by possession. When a team member has the Talking Stick, they can talk. The stick gets passed around the room as the meeting progresses and helps you allow one person to talk at a time. Perhaps you chuckled about the ‘Talking Stick.’ But realistically, I’ve seen it work for the most unruly teams. It may just be the option for you.

Best regards,

Denise O’Berry
aka ‘Team Doc’

P.S. You may want to check out my special report, How to Conduct Team Meetings That Work.

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