Promoting good behaviour in meetings
From Community Leadership Summit Wiki
Promoting good behaviour in meetings
- Organiser: Dave Neary
Meetings of communities, particularly tech communities, tend to be dominated by a small number of people, who speak first, long and often. How can you, as a member of the meeting, or as its facilitator, ensure that good behaviour is encouraged, and bad behaviour is discouraged?
Reference: STFU
From that article:
- Think about the man who...
- Speaks for a long, loud, first and often
- Offers his opinion immediately whenever someone makes a proposal, asks a question, or if there's a lull in discussion
- Speaks with too much authority: "Actually, it's like this…"
- Can't amend a proposal or idea he disagrees with, but trashes it instead
- Makes faces every time someone says something he disagrees with
- Rephrases everything a woman says, as in, "I think what Mary was trying to say is..."
- Makes a proposal, then responds to each and every question and criticism of it - thus speaking as often as everyone else put together (Note: This man often ends up being the facilitator)
- And don't get me started about the bad male facilitator who…:
- Always puts himself first on stack, because he can
- Somehow never sees the women with their hands up, and never encourages people who haven't spoken
Ideas:
- Encourage people to raise hands when they want to say something, and acknowledge the hands
- Identify when people are running on, and redirect the conversation to others
- Talk to people outside meetings, ensure that their input is heard
- Have regular evaluations of meetings, and integrate feedback
--Dneary 00:20, 19 July 2009 (UTC)
