If you’ve begun really cringing when your monthly staff meeting rolls around, it may be time for some leadership tips for meetings. An awful lot of energy at meetings can be wasted complaining about a particular problem. Before jumping into any discussion, ascertain if you’re discussing an actual “problem” or just a onetime situation. A problem is something that happens repeatedly, a situation is something that happens once. Often the staff (or doctor) will dwell on a situation when it was just a blip in the everyday flow of the office. Just accept it was a onetime issue and move on…..if it happens again, then consider starting to move it to problem status.
Also remember, personal attacks (even when veiled with “I really love her, but”) should never be allowed to be aired in a staff meeting. If a staff member is truly upset with another staff member, table the conversation and take it behind closed doors at the end of the meeting. Bring the staff members in together to discuss the issue and get to the real problem. No matter how contentious the employees are, discussing the issue with each separately will never solve anything.
Assign someone to take notes at the meeting and come up with an action plan to be posted at the end of the meeting, with specific individuals assigned to each action. All too often, great ideas come out of staff meetings then just fade away, because no one was assigned to implement them. Revisit the action plan at the beginning of the next staff meeting in order to make sure that the actions decided upon have been implemented. What follows is a plan to come to a quick and effective solution to a specific problem presented at a meeting.
- What specifically is the problem?
Define the exact problem you would like to solve. Leave out corollary issues; they need to be worked on separately. - What are the causes of the problem?
Brainstorm all the causes but do not discuss the problem; just causes for now, we’ve already defined the problem.
- What are the possible solutions?
Brainstorm all possible solutions. Don’t stop and evaluate the solutions at this time, that’s for the next step…just toss them out there.
- What is the best possible solution?
Now evaluate all the proposed solutions and choose the best one.
- Solution has been reached…..move on to the next topic
