6. Engage Participants Johnny would continue flow of conversation with his guests by asking follow-up questions or summarize what they said.

Ask additional questions to draw out important information with your meeting participants. Say following:

Tell me more about… That’s an interesting viewpoint, please explain further… If I understand what you are saying…

If there are participants that are quiet, make it safe for them to give feedback or suggestions. Say following:

“Mike, we would really like to hear your ideas on… “Jane, you look like you really want to add something important to discussion, please tell us.”

Once they make their comments say, “Thanks for your valuable comments. I look forward to you contributing more insights in future.”

7. Make Meeting Participants Stars Johnny Carson had a way of letting his guests, whether they were infamous or famous, be celebrities on Tonight Show. He allowed them to tell their jokes and witty stories, as well as complimented them, so that stars were and ultimately show was successful.

You can do same for your staff in meetings. You could dominate meeting and develop all ideas yourself. You wouldn’t accomplish much because meeting participants would have no sense of ownership and would be slow to initiate your ideas. Or you can encourage participants to contribute ideas so that they take ownership of ideas and take responsibility for implementing their ideas. Also, acknowledge and reward these “solution creators” in front of group.

Let them shine!

8. End Meeting Right Way While excusing his guests, Johnny would sincerely thank them for coming on show and compliment them on their contributions. The guests left with a good feeling and always wanted to come back again and again.

Make sure you thank meeting participants for their time and contributions. Let them know how they made a difference in meeting. If there were solutions created in meeting, communicate what is clear course of action to accomplishing those solutions. Express your confidence that you know that these solutions will be achieved.

9. Follow-up, Follow-up, Follow-up Johnny Carson would talk about how great a show was because of a guest. This was another way to make guests on his show feel special.

Send an e-mail to all relevant employees, whether they were in meeting or not, explaining what was covered in meeting, what was decided on in meeting, and what course of action we are taking.

Also again, acknowledge key people in meeting for their contributions.

Follow these nine techniques used by master of late night and your meetings will be outstanding.

Do not jump to conclusions. This does not mean replacing people with machines. If a task can be automated, it should be. Do you know why? Automation replaces repetitive tasks. Repetitive tasks can then be replaced with higher cognitive activities. If an individual spends 30 minutes a day on, let’s say, inputting data into a stand alone spreadsheet and this activity could be inputted directly into an existing integrated system, then that individual would have 2.5 more hours a week to spend meeting critical objectives or creating solutions. Multiply this by many individuals and you can see impact.

Tip #5 Schedule time to think

This does not imply that thinking is not going on; it’s just that we get too caught up in action and seldom take necessary time to stop. Stop to think through a challenge, stop to evaluate strategy, and stop to contemplate about anything. Since inaction is perceived as not progressing, we discourage “thinking time”. This is why outsiders are often able to see what we cannot. It isn’t that we cannot see it; it is just that we have not taken time to slow down, observe, think, and contemplate. When planning your week, schedule time to think.

Tip #6 Beyond customer experience

We all know that servicing customer is paramount. We know it, but many fail to meet minimum expectations. And sometimes we do not realize we are not meeting expectations. Customers are more demanding than they used to be. Develop a profile of most discriminating customer for your product or service. Describe them as best you can. ·What do they want in product or service ·How quickly do they want it ·What are there expectations regarding phone inquiries (When they have a question, how do they most prefer to access information) ·What is optimum sales experience from first contact to order taking to actual purchase ·What is their packaging preference ·How do they define perfect transaction ·Etc.

Once you have developed this profile, start by taking action to provide level of service expected by most demanding customer outlined above, to all customers. Once you have achieved this, then take just one profile element point and determine how you can expand on experience, giving even more. Then take next and next.

Tip #7 Go out on a limb

Remember old saying, nothing ventured, nothing gained? Well, it is true. Do not limit yourself by being afraid to take chances. Of course, you will not always succeed, but not only will you learn great lessons, but you will also create breakthroughs. Each failure should be viewed as a step closer to success. The odds are on your side. This does not mean that you should take action without proper preparation. Take necessary precautions, evaluate alternatives and try it.

Do you see how these tips can improve your performance? Improving performance will allow you to grow in a number of ways. Grow by being more responsive, understanding customer better, increasing your flexibility, utilizing employees better, encouraging creativity, reducing bad decisions, and multiplying your strengths.

Copyright © 2004, Kay Graham-Gilbert