1. Meetings
   1. Problems with meetings
      1. Multi-headed animal syndrom
      2. Confusing "What" and "How" processes
      3. Win/Lose Approach to decision making
   2. Meeting types
      1. Problem solving
      2. Decision making
      3. Information sharing / report
      4. Planning meeting
      5. Feedback
   3. When to have a meeting
      1. You want info or advice from your group.
      2. You want to involve the group into problem solving and/or decision making.
      3. There is an issue you want to clarify.
      4. You have a concern to share with the group.
      5. The group members themselves want a meeting.
   4. Who should attend
      1. Always keep in mind a problem you want to solve when deciding who should attend.
      2. If all members share same vision, you will get predictable solution, so try to diversify the meeting attendees to avoid groupthink effect.
      3. Must attend: those affected by the problem, experts, decision makers.
         1. All people who eventually will be approving, accepting, or implementing a solution should be involved into decision making process from the very beginning.
2. General Guidelines
   1. Separate the "What" from the "How"
      1. What = Content
         1. Problem / Solution / Agenda / Topic
      2. How = Process
         1. Approach / Procedure / Method
            1. listing
            2. working out
            3. evaluation
   2. Discuss one item at a time, keep single focus!
   3. Manager/boss shouldn't facilitate a meeting because of roles conflict!
      1. Facilitator is neutral and is making sure a meeting goes in a constructive way.
      2. Manager is a final decision maker.
   4. Try to achieve when possible consensus, which is a Win/Win approach.
      1. Easier buy-in and commitment from the group members.
      2. Decisions quality is usually better.
   5. 5 Ingredients of effective meeting
      1. Single focus on a content.
      2. Single focus on a process.
      3. Someone must be responsible for maintaining open and balanced discussion.
         1. i.e. "Traffic cop"
      4. Someone must protect group members from group attack.
      5. During the meeting, the roles and responsibilities must be clearly defined.
3. Group Problem Solving
   1. Problem recognition
      1. Come to common problem understanding.
      2. Everyone should agree there is a problem to solve.
   2. Problem definition
      1. Definition outlines problem domain and solutions range, so be careful with defining.
      2. Ask people open questions.
      3. Problem As Given vs. Problem As Understood.
      4. Use diagrams.
      5. Problem definition table: IS / IS NOT.
   3. Problem analysis
      1. Ask questions: what? when? who? why?
      2. Break down problems into sub-problems.
      3. If needed, assign tasks to people to find more information before next meetings.
   4. Generating alternatives
      1. Organized well, groups tend to give more creative solutions as opposed to individual approach.
      2. Two obstacles
         1. Precocious evaluation.
         2. Attaching to a single viewpoint.
      3. Brainstorming
         1. Everyone generates as many ideas as possible.
         2. No evaluation at this point.
         3. Recorder captures all ideas.
      4. Checkboard
         1. Two variables matrix.
   5. Evaluating alternatives
      1. Agree on common criteria before evaluation!
         1. Which qualities does have a good solution?
         2. What standards should a solution fulfill to be acceptable?
      2. Use checkerboard to display how many criteria are covered by each solution.
         1. Columns: alternatives.
         2. Rows: criteria.
   6. Decision making
      1. If the group agreed on common problem definition and evaluation criteria, this phase may be even redundant!
      2. Key to Win/Win lies in ability of the group to collaborate rather than to follow a specific decision making method.
      3. Decision can be a combination of several alternatives.
      4. "Can everybody live with a decision A? What should be modified in decision A to solve your concern?"
         1. Keep modifying a decision until it is acceptable by everybody.
      5. If consensus cannot be reached, move on to win/lose approach
         1. Manager decides if hierarchical organization.
         2. Voting if horizontal organization.
   7. Planning
      1. "Planning is problem solving for future."
      2. Use network diagrams.
   8. Implementation
      1. Define what to do
      2. Start implementing
      3. Feedback: assign group to monitor implementation and solve emerging problems along the way.
4. Roles
   1. Facilitator
      1. Is neutral servant of the group.
      2. Almost never evaluates or offers ideas.
      3. Focuses the group energy on a common task.
      4. Offers alternative methods and procedures to the meeting process.
      5. Protects individuals from personal attack.
      6. Encourages everyone to participate.
      7. Coordinates meeting logistics before and after the meeting.
      8. Helps the group achieve consensus.
         1. At times, some persons will try to sabotage the meeting no matter what you try to do. In this case step out as a facilitator and let the group follow Win/Lose approach.
   2. Recorder
      1. Captures key ideas during the meeting.
      2. Must understand the group technical language to capture accurately.
      3. Is neutral servant; he/she doesn't alter or rephrase what is being said.
   3. Chairperson
      1. Works with facilitator to develop agenda, and agrees upon meeting process.
      2. Defines who participate in a meeting and what roles.
      3. Has power to suspend the meeting and make decision on own if there is no progress.
      4. Shouldn't dominate during the meeting.
   4. Group Member
      1. 95% of the meeting time the group members should talk not the facilitator or chairperson.
5. A good problem solver is innovative and flexible, master of tools not their slave.
6. No system works always and everywhere. Problem solving is educated method of trial and error.
7. There is no "right" facilitation method, it depends on your own style and circumstances.