Meeting mayhem

I'm Alyssa, the marketing team leader of the Collaboratory. I'm a business administration major and I'm going to be a senior this fall. This summer, I became the first Collaboratory intern and I'm having a really good experience. I'm helping to improve our finance system and budgeting process, working on our database, and doing a handful of other projects, including this blog.

Yesterday I was at a meeting, a very interesting meeting, with several Collaboratory advisors. We met with another group, let's call them organization Q. We're partnering with Q to work on a new project. Little planning has been done face-to-face because of the distance between our organizations, so the meeting was a big deal. If it's such a big deal, let's have some big confusion, too.

Failed Goal 1: Define the roles and responsibilities of the two organizations. This was the first point on our agenda. Never actually happened. I have no idea what aspects of the project that the Collaboratory is responsible for and what Q is supposed to do.

Failed Goals 2 & 3: Have a clear understanding of who is the chairperson of the meeting. Also, establish who is in charge of Q. I think the failure to meet these goals contributed to Failed Goal 1.

Failed Goal 4: Plan for an upcoming event to promote our project. We have a date set for the relatively near future, but we don't have the funds for it yet, a location reserved, or the necessary informational materials to have an effective conference. I think we are unprepared to do this because everyone's responsibilities are so vague. Everyone is expecting others to handle certain things and little is being accomplished.

Because of my lack of knowledge about the project, I basically served as an observer and a listener. But, now that yesterday is over, let's reflect on that chaotic meeting. Thinking about that meeting led me to the question: What can prevent this from happening in the future?

Idea 1: Be prepared for meetings. Don't mislead others about what you are capable of doing. Be prepared in the way you said you would be, whether that means bringing something along or finishing a piece of the project. Hold other group members accountable: stay in thought with them and ask for details to show that they are doing what they say they are.

Idea 2: Identify leaders from the beginning and be clear about who is the chair of the meeting. Create and enforce a policy about who is allowed to speak, like raising hands and having the chair indicate when it is someone's turn to speak.

Idea 3: Don't let Failed Goal 1 happen. Define roles and responsibilities before the project falls apart. (This hasn't happened to us yet.) That might mean that a leader gives each person certain tasks, or in our case, deciding which organization is responsible for which components of the project. Make sure you don't bite off more thank you can chew. If you do, be honest and tell someone who can help you.