BS: advice on running a working group?

Subject: BS: advice on running a working group?
From: pixieofdoom
Date: 19 May 05 - 04:47 AM

I've got to run/chair a working group with the aim of looking at how we can save energy and cut our carbon emissions in the workplace. I know the topic area pretty well but I've never had to lead a group in this way before. It's only about 6 people or so but I'm not really sure how you structure such a thing Anyone got any tips?

Thanks!

Subject: RE: BS: advice on running a working group?
From: George Papavgeris
Date: 19 May 05 - 05:28 AM

As a chairperson, the biggest pitfall would be if you overpowered the group with your own views, especially as you know the subject well. You will need to keep yourself in check, offer your views, but no more forcefully than others, and listen for consensus.

In fact, coaxing a consensus will probably be the hardest task, if you have some strong personalities in the group. Especially in the early stages of the work (where you will be brainstorming and collecting possible ideas and options), your task will be for everyone to have a fair "shout". Some knowledgeable people may be too shy to speak up - you'll need to coax them gently.

At the start, make sure they all know each other; the usual thing is to go round and ask each to say something about themselves, especially with respect to the task in hand. Don't rush this bit too much. Half an hour is better than 5 minutes - let them settle into the group.

Agree the selection criteria second (after the brainstorming) - not before, otherwise people will be subconsciously filtering their ideas through the criteria during the brainstorming session, and you might miss some good ones.

Selection of criteria is in my view the most important task. Too often we glibly come up with the obvious ones (example: "The one that saves most emissions") and forget others that may be just as important (examples: "The one that is easiest to implement" or "The one that gives fastest results" etc). And if you miss a good criterion, don't be afraid to go back and change them - they are your criteria, and they are not holy; their only purpose is to let you select the best options.

Don't worry too much about prioritising your criteria, assigning weighting factors etc - that is false accounting and turns the whole thing into a numerical exercise, diverting attention. But DO identify any "make or break" criteria: the ones that absolutely MUST be satisfied.

After you have selected your preferred options/ideas according to the criteria, don't simply list them; you can do a little bit more. Prioritise them along a timeline, work out some target emission savings by quarter etc.

Finally - and this is the second biggest pitfall for a chairperson - make sure the workload of the group is divided; this is to ensure that everyone feels involved AND to avoid your becoming unofficial scribe-cum-presentation-developer-cum-general-dogsbody. Be a chairperson (willing to do some of the work, perhaps even more than others), not just the one on whom all the work is dumped.

And have fun!

Subject: RE: BS: advice on running a working group?
From: catspaw49
Date: 19 May 05 - 05:39 AM

"A committee is an animal wioth four hind legs."......Nikita Kruschev

Subject: RE: BS: advice on running a working group?
From: pixieofdoom
Date: 19 May 05 - 05:40 AM

That's really helpful George, thank you ever so much

Subject: RE: BS: advice on running a working group?
From: John P
Date: 19 May 05 - 08:48 AM

Some stuff about running meetings:

Meetings should always have a written agenda and a clearly stated amount of time that will be spent on each agenda item. There should be a facilitator, a scribe, and a time-keeper. The chairman of the committee should probably facilitate the first meeting, but after that try taking turns at all the tasks. This will keep everyone involved in a variety of ways, and make sure they all know the problems involved in facilitating a meeting. You can still be firmly the leader of the group while someone else is running the meeting. In fact, it's better for you that way as it allows you to concentrate on the work and the people, not on keeping track of the agenda.

The facilitator's job is to keep the discussion on track and to make sure you move through all the items on the agenda. Early on in the process you should get everyone on board with the concept of getting interrupted by the facilitator if they go off-topic. The scribe's job is to write down the general topics and the decisions that get made. You don't need a complete set of minutes for every meeting. No one will read them, and they will obscure the important bits, i.e. what you actually decided. The time keeper interrupts when the time for each agenda item has been used up. You may decide to keep going on a topic, but don't let the meetings go longer than agreed. If you get to the end of your time, just stop and pick up where you left off at the next meeting. This will give all the members of the group the idea that time is important at the meeting, not just content. Your boss will love you for it. It also helps to build a sense of professionalism that will spill over into everything you are doing.

At various points in the meeting it will be necessary to assign a task to someone. Part of your job is to quickly figure out who will be best at each task and assign it to them. It doesn't matter who is facilitating -- you, as group leader, can just say "Mike, will you look into that and get back to us at the next meeting? Check in with me if you run into any problems."

Delegate, delegate, delegate. It keeps eveyone feeling like they are part of the group, and it keeps you from getting burned out by trying to do everything. Part of delegating is to know who is supposed to be doing what and to check back with them with a clear expectation that the tasks will be done on time. Make your own notes about this as welll as making sure it gets into the agenda for the next meeting. In the example above you are asking for a report at the next meeting. The scribe should have an agenda list for the next meeting and add that item to it as soon as you ask Mike for a report at the next meeting. Make sure the scribe does this.

One of most important things you can do at the start of the whole process is train your group on how to have effective meetings. This means that for the first several meetings you will have to keep track of what the facilitatior and the scribe are doing and prompt them into proper action if they aren't doing it. Eventually everyone gets used to doing things your way and it becomes a habit with them. Since you are also keeping track of the general flow of information, keeping track of who you have delegated tasks to, keeping track of the various personalities and how they communicate with each other, keeping track the goal of the whole project, and probably lots more, you need to be able to do some effective internal multi-tracking. Stay aware.

You will probably have someone in your group who is more competent than the rest at getting things done, and who will volunteer to do more than they should. Be aware of this when you are delegating tasks. You should give this person more than everyone else, but only a little more.

Have fun with the project, and try to think of ways for everyone in the group to have fun as well.

John Peekstok

Subject: RE: BS: advice on running a working group?
From: Peace
Date: 19 May 05 - 10:39 PM

Use a round table.

Subject: RE: BS: advice on running a working group?
From: GUEST,.gargoyle
Date: 19 May 05 - 11:50 PM

You answered your own question - you ALL should RUN!!!!!

Sincerely,
Gargoyle

"green people" UGH!

Subject: RE: BS: advice on running a working group?
From: M.Ted
Date: 22 May 05 - 11:01 PM

Hope that you have other career plans--being head, or even a member of a group like can get you into big trouble--you either step on a lot of toes by recomending changes in a lot of other people's domains, or you don't recommend anything and incur the wrath of all the "Green People"--don't think that I am anti-enviroment, quite the contrary--but there is no way that you can do your job with this project without making enemies out of people who you will have to work with down the road.

Smart managers farm this stuff out to consultants so that when the final report comes in, everyone can blame someone outside the organization for making unpopular recommendations--if top management decides to run with it, fine, if not, no one is left hanging in the wind--

Subject: RE: BS: advice on running a working group?
From: open mike
Date: 23 May 05 - 11:33 AM

Robert's rules of order..

Subject: RE: BS: advice on running a working group?
From: Big Al Whittle
Date: 23 May 05 - 01:06 PM

well you could drop a bag of soot on each one as they come through the door, and say now! you see the problem!

Subject: RE: BS: advice on running a working group?
From: pixieofdoom
Date: 23 May 05 - 02:24 PM

Unfortunately I wasn't given much choice in this project. It's going to be pretty limited by budget etc. so there's only so much that can be done anyway. Getting a balance between those who are really keen and those who don't want to know is definately tricky. I don't want to be the eco mafia or anything...........well not unless I get a hat and a violin case

Subject: RE: BS: advice on running a working group?
From: GUEST,MTed
Date: 24 May 05 - 02:46 PM

"Unfortunately I wasn't given much choice in this project. " I had already guessed that. Another guess that I have is that the higher-ups have already decided what they want to do and how much they want to pay for it. Usually, there won't be much choice in that, either.

Most of the time, they will expect you to read their minds--if you're a good mind reader, you can save yourself a lot of unecessary work by coming up with what they want the first time--if you aren't practiced at mind reading, a few discreet and diplomatic inquiries may have the same result-


One bit of warning--there will likely be someone among your number who is reporting back to the higher-ups on your progress.   I tell you this as a former management consultant--bad idea to let lower level employees meet without knowing exactly where it is going--usually it is very informal, someone asks someone, "So how's the group progressing?", but it can be much more involved--it is a mistake to think that this is not important to top management--they might seem indiferent to your objectives, and they may not agree with your goals, but if it wasn't important to them, they wouldn't have bothered to set up your group in the first place--

Subject: RE: BS: advice on running a working group?
From: Georgiansilver
Date: 24 May 05 - 07:07 PM

Having chaired hundreds of meetings, it is of paramount importance that each person gets a say....that no one person is allowed to dominate.....concensus is the key word and working "together" to achieve an aim. As chairperson, you have the responsibility to see that this happens. Best wishes, Mike.

Subject: RE: BS: advice on running a working group?
From: John P
Date: 25 May 05 - 10:14 AM

Yes, what Georgiansilver said. If you have to, ask the compulsive talker of the group to be quiet while you go around the table and ask each individual for their input.

JP

Subject: RE: BS: advice on running a working group?
From: gnu
Date: 25 May 05 - 10:37 AM

Don't know if this was mentioned as I didn't read each post thoroughly. Minutes rule. If it ain't in writing, it didn't happen. I like to sum up key points, questions, objectives, whatever, with a written description that all agree upon. When I see a good time to summarize, I might say, "Maybe we should sum that point up for further discussion after we've had a chance to research it." After I get everyone's agreement, I might say, "Let me try to put it down briefly... what does this sound like... jump in if I get off track."

If you get everyone's approval of these short summations, writing the minutes is a snap and you don't get a member coming to the next meeting saying, "That's not what I understood." And, it makes them feel good about the process.

Good luck.

Subject: RE: BS: advice on running a working group?
From: GUEST,leeneia
Date: 26 May 05 - 09:07 AM

Re: "Meetings should always have a written agenda and a clearly stated amount of time that will be spent on each agenda item."

I have been to too many meetings where management used the agenda to control input and skew decisions. An agenda is okay, but free time should be left for members to bring up their own concerns.

M. Ted, I enjoyed reading your wise insights.

Other thoughts:

1. The creative person is unpopular. Most people respond to a creative idea by ignoring or ridiculing the creative person. But sometimes that person's idea prevails in time.

The successful (you might say crafty) creative person learns to feed her ideas to a popular person, who serves as mouthpiece.


2. There are people who think in pictures and people who think in words. Most of us are a blend of the two types, but if you have two individuals, one of whom thinks almost entirely in words, and another in pictures, they will irritate and despise each other without knowing why. Understanding the differences between them can help.

3. At the end of every meeting, do two things.

a. Review the list of who-is-doing-what. It's too easy for a member to forget about or misunderstand what s/he is supposed to be doing.

b. Set the time and place for the next meeting.

Subject: RE: BS: advice on running a working group?
From: John P
Date: 26 May 05 - 10:18 AM

The way I handle the agenda is to have it available to anyone to write items on. The team leader can review the items and talk about them with the individuals before the meeting to make sure there won't be a lot of wasted time.

Also, when the team leader isn't management and the meetings are facilitated by everyone on the team in turn, it's hard for "management" to control the meeting.

Yes! Review the task list at the end of the meeting and set the time and place for the next meeting.

JP

Subject: RE: BS: advice on running a working group?
From: gnu
Date: 26 May 05 - 01:00 PM

John Cleese has, or is part of, a company that makes training videos. One is entitled "Meetings, Bloody Meetings". The series is well worth watching, if only for the humour.

Subject: RE: BS: advice on running a working group?
From: GUEST,Flamenco ted
Date: 27 May 05 - 04:59 AM

Sack a few before the meeting. It will keep the rest of them on their toes. Works for me!