Meeting Facilitation Instilling Information and

Meeting Facilitation Instilling information and sharing ideas is essential in organizations in order to continue to improve, enhance job satisfaction and emphasize a team culture. It is expected that something will be accomplished through these meetings, whether it is comparing information or making decisions. Meetings may be positive, negative or indifferent. Positive meetings have commonly understood goals, a straightforward process for attaining these goals, an understanding and respect that each person has his or her own personal feelings about the subjects being discussed, and a sense of involvement and empowerment.

A attend weekly meetings at my workplace. These meetings are held once a week in order to check on the status of each person's projects, for some communication among staff, and for the supervisor, who conducts the meetings, to update the department on any pertinent company news and to discuss new work that may be coming. In addition, she hands out additional smaller assignments that are specifically needed for the present week.

It is important to note at this time that the personal interaction and communication in my department, and the company in general (it is small -- only 25 employees) is not positive to begin with. Many of the employees have been here for over 20 years and are set in their ways. They have been involved with many changes over the years of staff, administration, processes and technology, and have a negative attitude toward anything being revised.

The supervisor, who is mentioned above, does not communicate well with her direct reports or others in the company. She also is very negative, telling people their shortcomings in a demeaning and threatening way, but never being positive or supportive. The president of the company is very familiar with all these personal problems and the politics, but does not do anything about them. This background should provide a foundation of understanding about the atmosphere of these meetings. The meetings are about 15 minutes long.

They are held standing up in one of the open areas of the company. They are held about 15 to 30 minutes before the official start of the day. There are usually seven or eight employees present. They include managers and administrative staff. Some of these people, as noted above, have been with the company for many years and a couple of them are relatively new to the organization.

Specifically, below are details about the areas regarding group behavior in my observations: General: The supervisor comes with a written agenda (she always works off notes), but it is only for her and no one else to see. The communication process is a top down, with her leading the meeting, asking the questions, sharing most of the information and making necessary changes, and handing out new assignments. It comes as no surprise that the atmosphere is not conducive to positive communication.

Even before the meeting, most of the employees are not looking forward to this time -- even though it is short. Most people like their jobs, because they do not have to interact much with this supervisor, so are willing to "put up with" this general weekly assembling. The fact that everyone is standing rather than sitting does not help the atmosphere. Communication Patterns: Nonverbal communication, in this case, is much more noticeable than verbal communication. It is well-known that people communicate on a number of levels.

By looking at facial expressions, eye contact, posture, body, hand and feet movements, body placement, one can tell a lot of about how someone is feeling. Each gesture while talking and being silent communicates something vital. The supervisor's body language is negative, just as her attitude. She does not stand directly straight up, slouching a bit against a desk. She rarely looks up when talking and never smiles.

The only time she looks directly at someone is when handing out a specific assignment to that person, in order to acknowledge that the person heard what she said (not "understand" but "heard" -- big difference). As expected, the body language of those assembled is negative, as well. Arms crossed over chest, leaning against a desk with legs crossed. No smiles, grimaces maybe, appear on faces, as well as some aside rolling of eyes. I highly doubt that many people are actually listening attentively to what she is saying.

When an area is discussed or new assignments handed out, there is more attention. If any questions are asked or comments made, it is very apparent that the supervisor is barely listening to the feedback. She has a message to send, and that is the agenda. However, the sharing of information between individuals is at minimum, and the "any questions," at the end of the meeting is greeted with silence.

The way the people walk away from the meeting shows negative body language, as well: Slow moving, heads down, or "looks" at other people. Participation: As can be surmised by the above description, there is very little participation from those who assemble. Give-and-take between individuals is at a minimum. When a change or concern about a specific procedure is being discussed, then there is some two-way communication. However, the supervisor cuts it off after a few sentences and says for the individuals to talk about the details later.

When each person is asked the status of his or her work, the answer is quick and to the point. There is no sharing of new ideas, just status quo. As noted above, when new assignments are given, the supervisor makes sure that the person has heard the request. If the person does not understand exactly what is needed, he or she waits until a later time to ask the supervisor or another individual rather than at this time.

Norms: Since this meeting is held every week, everyone clearly knows what is expected of him or her by the supervisor: That is, to report any status change that has not already been handled and to let everyone know if there is a major change that is going to significantly impact work patterns. All people attending this meeting know that any sharing of ideas or more than cursory communication is not expected or condoned. This is a very cut-and-dry meeting, 15 minutes long, with a specific agenda to follow.

Decision-making The supervisor has already made most of the decisions prior to the meeting. When assignments are handed out, no one is going to say that it is impossible to do the work unless it greatly interferes with a standard process. At that point, there may be a couple of questions directed to the supervisor, but these are answered with the understanding that the decision has already been made to go ahead; the questions are a moot point. After the meeting, there are some times.