HOW TO USE THIS TOOL
“...If leaders specify too much about purpose, goals and approach ...they may gain compliance to ‘their’ pur-
pose. But they are likely to lose commitment to a team purpose.”
—John Katzenbach and Douglas Smith, THE WISDOM OF TEAMSUse this tool often, because events are expensive, and this time needs to be well-invested. Just
think about the cost of five to a dozen or more people sitting around for an hour, a day, or
even longer. This is valuable time, and you need to ensure that your meetings are focused and
that people show up prepared.
For a meeting of a half day or longer, it’s more powerful to involve others in planning. Use
this tool with a small group (e.g., a cross-section of four to six people, possibly including a
senior manager who might not be attending but is sponsoring the upcoming meeting). It will
take about an hour. For a larger group of a dozen or so people, this planning usually requires
a couple of hours. Hold the planning session two or three weeks prior to the scheduled meet-
ing date, so group members will have time to complete the prework assignments that
inevitably result when using this tool (e.g., preparing a report for the meeting).
For a short meeting of one or two hours, we recommend this tool for preparing a draft
meeting plan. Send it to all participants for their input prior to the meeting. In addition, check
with the group at the start of the meeting, in case they want to make any last-minute amend-
ments.
WEB WORKSHEET
PROCESS CYCLE WORKSHEET
Use this template to plan an upcoming meeting, workshop, or event.
SECTION 11 TOOLS FORLEADINGMEETINGS 337
Why are we having this meeting?What will we take away from this meeting?Purpose
(Brainstorm what the
purpose is and is not,
then prioritize.)Outcomes
(Develop observable
and measurable
outcomes for each
high-priority purpose.)