This Meeting Sucks – Details, episodes & analysis

A goal is only as good as its results, and the only way to see your progress is to measure. In this episode, we walk through the final phase of the MeetingMakers Framework: Performing and Learning. The agenda includes activities for developing measures and metrics to identify progress that are feasible to track and realistic to achieve. 

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EPISODE RESOURCES
Measuring Performance Workshop SessionLab
Measuring Performance Template Package

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Written by Lauren Green and produced by Caitlin Murray

When teams have a clear goal and aligned, actionable steps, it’s easy to make their vision a reality. In this episode, we walk through the fifth phase of the MeetingMakers Framework: Mapping, which includes goal-setting and action-planning activities. This agenda takes your team through the process step by step and leaves you with a set of actionable tasks ready to be plugged into your project management system.

Read along with the episode on YouTube.

EPISODE RESOURCES
Goal Setting and Action Planning Workshop SessionLab
Goal Setting and Action Planning Template Package

🔎 Explore the MeetingMakers Framework

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Written by Lauren Green and produced by Caitlin Murray

No matter your skill at leading meetings, there are some occasions when hiring a facilitator is in your best interest. This episode goes over considerations to help you recognize when it’s time to bring in a third-party facilitator and gives you a guide of questions to consider when searching for the right person to lead your meeting.

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EPISODE RESOURCES:
Smart Choices: A Practical Guide to Making Better Decisions (book)
Judgment Under Uncertainty: Heuristics and Biases (book)
Decision Traps: The Ten Barriers to Decision-Making and How to Overcome Them (book)
MAFN Find-A-Facilitator (database)

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Written by Lauren Green and produced by Caitlin Murray

Organization leaders and meeting sponsors carry a large influence on the meetings they attend, and how they show up can affect the group as a whole and the success of a session. This episode provides guidance for what leaders should be doing before, during, and after a meeting to help achieve outcomes and harness the wisdom of their team.

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EPISODE RESOURCES:
Season 1: Just-in-Time Meeting Skills (podcast)
MeetingMakers Academy (webpage)
S1E4: Outline Your Meeting (podcast episode)
S2E9: Make It a Meeting, Not a Lecture (podcast episode)
S3E5: Help Your Meetings Work I—Verbal Tools (podcast episode)
Non-Violent Communication: A Language of Life by Marshall B. Rosenberg PhD (*book)

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Written by Lauren Green and produced by Caitlin Murray

Whether your team needs help remembering information or navigating the complexities of virtual meetings, you can take on a meeting support role to level up the effectiveness of your team’s meeting. In this episode, Lauren breaks down the need for meeting notes and tips for taking them effectively, and guest Heather Martinez discusses the rold of tech host.

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EPISODE RESOURCES:
Understanding Visual Notetaking (video)
Dancing with Markers (website)
Start Your Visual Notetaking Journey (resource)
Let’s Letter Together (website)
Tech Host Academy (online course)
How to E3 Your Online Meetings (video)
Top 5 Vitals for Being a Successful Tech Host (video and blog)

Heather Leavitt Martinez is a practical mix of supporting others and modeling the way. Rooted in Appreciative Inquiry (AI), everything Heather does from training and facilitation to tech hosting is based in AI. She is a visual practitioner by trade, but quickly turned virtual facilitator at the start of the pandemic and brought many along with her. Heather is the director of Tech Host Academy, senior product manager at Kadabra, and is currently working with the Center of Appreciative Inquiry to deliver her work as a visual facilitator and tech host. 

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Written by Lauren Green and produced by Caitlin Murray

Sometimes, the best way to deal with conflict, is to stop and listen. In this episode, we’ll reframe our understanding of conflict and explore practical strategies for managing it effectively, whether you're the facilitator or a participant.

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EPISODE RESOURCES:
Book Notes: Don't Just Do Something, Stand There (blog)
Don't Just Do Something, Stand There!: Ten Principles for Leading Meetings That Matter by Marvin Weisbord and Sandra Janoff (book)
The Worry Trick: How Your Brain Tricks You into Expecting the Worst and What You Can Do About It by David A. Carbonell PhD (book)
TMS S1E4: Outline Your Meeting (podcast episode)

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Written by Lauren Green and produced by Caitlin Murray

By identifying patterns in the conversation of your meeting, you can take action to keep things balanced and productive. In this episode, we go over the Kantor model, a tool you can use to track conversations and gain insight into group dynamics.

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EPISODE RESOURCES:
Reading the Room - Channeling the Power of Group Dynamics (video by Brian Tarallo)
CLIP: Apollo 13—"Failure is not an option" 

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Written by Lauren Green and produced by Caitlin Murray

Get ready to test your knowledge in this Jeopardy-style episode inspired by the Not Past It podcast. In this episode, we unpack a facilitator’s toolkit of simple verbal tools that anyone in a meeting can use to improve communication, encourage diverse voices, and enhance the meeting experience.

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EPISODE RESOURCES:
Facilitator’s Guide to Participatory Decision-Making by Sam Kaner (book)
A More Beautiful Question: The Power of Inquiry to Spark Breakthrough Ideas by Warren Berger (book)
Questions Library (guide)

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Written by Lauren Green and produced by Caitlin Murray

Participant etiquette can make or break the success of a meeting. In this episode, we challenge you to rethink your approach to meetings with suggestions on mindset, being present, dealing with dominating personalities, and more.

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EPISODE RESOURCES:
TMS S2E2: Can We Just Have a Meeting? (podcast episode)
Radical Candor: Be a Kick-Ass Boss Without Losing Your Humanity by Kim Scott (book)
Mastering the Art of Giving and Receiving Feedback (blog)
Facilitator’s Guide to Participatory Decision-Making by Sam Kaner (book)
Self-Coaching Activity: Self-Affirmations and Setting Boundaries with Others (blog)

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Written by Lauren Green and produced by Caitlin Murray

Group and team dynamics can have a huge impact on the success of a meeting. In this episode, we discuss power dynamics, the role of conflict styles and groupthink, and introduce you to the Team Dimensions Profile, a tool for assessing team roles. 

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EPISODE RESOURCES:
Quiet by Susan Cain (book)

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Written by Lauren Green and produced by Caitlin Murray