Reflection on Meetings: Here's What. So What? Now What?

Name: Norma Hokayem Initiative Name: We Believe We Achieve

Heres What.
One meeting/month Same starting time Meeting duration varies between 55 min and 1hr10 min Number of Attendees varies between 9 and 11 Same Location: EB4 A Class Same Seating Arrangement: Class seating then by group in every meeting Administrativia: 7 meetings include same item (Next assignment/ topic for research), with the exception of 3 meetings that didnt include administrativia. Number of Agenda items varies between 4 and 7 items Agenda items were covered in total 8 out of 10 times

So What?
Consistency/regularity in meetings helps the team to keep track of the progress achieved, review, fine tune, and most importantly keep an eye on the end result set as objective. Starting time and duration were respected, which reveals the members commitment, their respect to each other and to the purpose of these meetings and to the whole initiative. One member joined the team after the first meeting, which is a good sign: The echo of the first meeting was positive and hence attracted an additional volunteer. Another positive point is that only one member of the committee left, and this was due to reasons beyond his control: the leaving member actually left the school during the academic year (relocating in another country). Few or same Administrativia items: focus was on getting things done through team work, rather than announcements and one way communication; the meetings were well prepared and there was no waste of time. The few administrativia items on the agenda provide members enough time to prepare themselves, research and well understand the concept that we are going to work on in the next meeting.

 Seating arrangement was dictated by the venue classroom, and by the size of the committee and purpose and processes of point on agenda. All agendas items were covered in general, which means that the agenda was well prepared and appropriate. Although the number of items on the agenda was high, it was nevertheless voluntary as I wanted to include enriching, team building activities in addition to productive processes, such as icebreakers, common agreements, and exit cards. The number of items did decrease however gradually from around 7 points to around 4 points, as the meetings became more focused.

Now What?
One point on the agenda I would handle differently is the Common Agreements; a very important component in the meeting, it took the team several meetings to reach an agreement with 11 points, due to the fact that the team was not familiar with the concept; if I had to do this again, I would build the whole first meeting around common agreements, to clarify the concept, foster the proper culture among team members, and be able to work faster in the coming meetings. Although I am happy that all points on agenda were covered most of the times, I do feel however that at times, quality was sacrificed to quantity, and that I was personally running during those meetings; if I had to do this again, I would definitely decrease the pace, work a bit slower but more in-depth, which is more enriching when creating PLCs. At times during facilitating meetings, I was more focused on staying on time than on the real process and the need to adjust it; I even kept looking at the time to make sure were respecting the stated ending time of an activity. I think I need to be more relaxed with the time factor, in the sense that if I feel a process is taking more than planned, I adjust the rest of the agenda accordingly, either move an item to the next meeting, or amending the remaining items times.