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Master Meetings

Meetings are a fact of life. They play an integral role in how our departments, committees, and hospitals make decisions, implement new projects and processes, convey information, and, unfortunately, take up our precious time.

Perhaps you’ve been thrust into the role of leading meetings—as the head of a quality initiative task force, or as facilitator of a brainstorming session on a quality of care issue—or maybe you’re just beginning to face that possibility. How can you hone your skills to ensure that your meetings are on track, fulfill their goals, and waste as little time as possible?

Resource for Meeting Leaders

Dr. Holman strongly recommends the article “How to Run a Meeting” by Antony Jay, which originally appeared in the March/April 1976 issue of Harvard Business Review and is now available in the book Harvard Business Review on Effective Communication (Harvard Business School Press, 1999).—JJ

Once you start using structure, you don’t have to manipulate the meeting; people will simply follow the structure.

—Roger Schenke

Common Pitfalls of Leading a Meeting

In his years of observing meetings, Dr. Holman has identified the following problem areas that meeting leaders run into:

  1. The meeting leader does not have a clear goal or purpose for the meeting or initiative. You should outline your goal at the first meeting.
  2. The leader does not make each participant’s role in the group clear. Everyone should know what everyone else is bringing to the table.
  3. The leader becomes a barrier, either by pursuing a personal agenda or because of lack of facilitation or organizational skills.
  4. The group is the wrong size. Ideal group size is five to 10 people; too many in a group, and people don’t have a chance to voice their concerns. When there are too few members, you can miss out on essential expertise to get things done.
  5. There are no ground rules. These should include rules of courtesy and behavior, such as “all team members will speak freely and in turn” and “silence equals agreement.”
  6. The meeting suffers from a lack of organizational planning. The group needs an agenda and supporting materials approximately three days in advance. Follow up the meeting by sending out a meeting summary that includes action items with responsible parties identified.—JJ

Watch and Learn

Russell L. Holman, MD, senior vice president and national medical director, Cogent Healthcare, and president-elect, SHM, put a lot of effort into mastering his meeting leadership skills, beginning early in his career. “I was working in an organization that was meeting-rich,” recalls Dr. Holman. “It was important to me to learn that way of getting things done.”

He began with the simple act of watching how others led meetings, noting what some did right and others did wrong. “A lot of my work has been through observation, and through seeking out mentoring,” he says. It helps to have spent time sitting in many meetings before you become a leader. “You can see how things are done. When you observe someone who does well at leading a meeting, ask to sit down with them and ask how they set out to accomplish the goal of the meeting.”

Learn as You Go

As a hospitalist, you are likely to assume the role of meeting leader. You can then concentrate on refining your skills with each meeting. “Seek feedback of the senior people participating, as well as general participants,” suggests Dr. Holman. “Do a bit of analysis if there were conflicts in the meeting, or if you feel the group is not making progress.”

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