Making Senior Staff Meetings Effective and Efficient Kerry C. Stackpole, CAE

Published in ASAE Executive IdeaLink –August 2007

Neoterica Partners | management consultants 6841 Elm Street, Suite 7763 | McLean, Virginia 22106-7763 | [email protected]

Copyright © Kerry C. Stackpole, 2007. All Rights Reserved.

Making Senior Staff Meetings Effective and Efficient _________________________________

“Regular senior staff meetings sustain fidelity to mission and by extension serve to engage the minds, spirit, and energy for the successful achievement of organizational goals and outcomes.” By Kerry C. Stackpole, CAE Neoterica Partners

I have never worked a day in my life. When I’ve done my job well, neither has my senior staff. Before you rush to send me your resume, let me be clear. The “feel” of work is what’s missing here. That doesn’t mean we aren’t crazy busy, over-stimulated, or experiencing the sensations of being overwhelmed by the tasks required to sustain the mission of the organization. It’s just that when we’re at our best, our activities simply lack the gritty feel of work. That’s the essence of effective senior staff leadership: leveraging available resources, focusing on mission, and making sure everyone contributes to the success of the enterprise. These three keys make all else possible. Regular senior staff meetings sustain fidelity to mission and by extension serve to engage the minds, spirit, and energy for the successful achievement of organizational goals and outcomes. So, what makes for truly effective and efficient senior staff meetings? It’s a five-step process that requires a clear focus on desired outcomes Copyright © Kerry C. Stackpole, 2007. All Rights Reserved.

and a willingness to be an extraordinarily active listener. Bring your best game and focus on engagement, enlightenment, encouragement, excitement, and energy. 1. Engagement: Nothing in today’s competitive environment can be left to chance. So make sure your senior staff shuts off their “crackberries” and every other interruption technology in use, including cell phones, pagers, walkie-talkies, and so forth. We don’t hold meetings while senior staff does their e-mail, reads their horoscopes, or otherwise diverts their attention from the work at hand. Making sure everyone contributes to the success of the organization is an essential component of engagement. Keeping the focus to what’s going on in the room assures it really happens. 2. Enlightenment: The smartest guys (or gals) in the room aren’t, at least not always. You can tell your staff what to do, or you can teach them what to do. Enlightenment is about sharing perspective, principles, and priorities. It comes about from asking insightful and provocative questions of your staff and carefully listening to their responses and ideas. In our hyper, time-compressed worlds, we tend to overlook this moment. Great leaders ask great questions, follow-up, and listen closely, and it shows in the team’s results. Every senior staff gathering benefits from a laser-like focus on addressing the critical issues at hand. Using a prepared and predistributed agenda helps the team prepare. That doesn’t mean offtopic or “blue-sky” is out. It does mean the leader takes responsibility for managing the time, topic, and focus of all conversation. Whether it is having a conversation, brainstorming, or playing Twister, senior staff meetings will be far more effective when everyone understands how their time and energy is to be used. 3. Encouragement: Sometimes serving the needs of members can be a difficult and discouraging business. Staff and volunteers alike can become discouraged by a set back in their area of responsibility. Effective staff meetings provide a forum for those sorts of discussions and allow the airing of difficult times. Done well, they also offer a chance to re-focus and re-energize the senior staff team. Disappointment, like outright failure, is part of life and work. It’s how we deal with setbacks that matter. Effective senior staff gatherings allow a safe haven to vent and provide the group leader with an extraordinary opportunity to offer both public and private coaching to ensure a swift recovery and forward movement yet again. Copyright © Kerry C. Stackpole, 2007. All Rights Reserved.

4. Excitement: This is the best part of leading senior staff and paradoxically the most difficult. Being the chief cheerleader-in-charge takes enormous energy, especially when you yourself may harbor doubts about the direction or tasks at hand. But if you’re leading senior staff, it’s your responsibility to assure they share the passion and sense of power derived from your organization’s mission and contributions to the membership and society at large. As General Colin Powell wrote in his biography An American Life, “People want to share your confidence however thin, not your turmoil however real.” Take a fresh look at your organization and its mission. Undoubtedly, your group exists for a reason and purpose bigger than itself. The American Red Cross may operate blood banks, but what they really do is save lives. What about your organization? What is the strongest and most powerful contribution it makes to society? That’s leverage for building excitement in all that you do. Enriching and exciting others is your mission when you lead senior staff. Use the power of the organization’s mission and purpose to excite yours. 5. Energy: There is only room on the team for “big kids” or if you prefer “grown-ups”. Boomers, Millennial, Generation X, Y, or Z—or any other generational mix—are welcome. What’s essential is that each member of the senior staff has a well-formed sense of self, courage in their convictions, and a willingness to stand up for their perspective. “I” messages are the most undervalued currency in adult communications. “I believe the association members will benefit” or “I feel disappointed by the membership campaign” or “I don’t understand what you mean.” Keep the ownership and emotions where they belong—with the speaker. Here’s the caveat: Standing up for what you believe is not a license to be argumentative, demeaning, or cruel to others. “You” messages are often used to attack others and their ideas. “You can’t possibly be serious!” Kindness, respect, courage, and “I” messages can and do coexist. Finally, no group can function effectively without the benefit of candor. Sincerity in communications is essential to success: “You know I love your work Jim, but I have serious doubts about the strategy for membership development.” Sound too harsh for your senior staff meeting? It might be, but Jim knows exactly where the membership strategy stands. Jim can defend, revise, re-state, or retreat with his ideas. In too many organizations, ideas are met with smiling Copyright © Kerry C. Stackpole, 2007. All Rights Reserved.

acknowledgements and good cheer all around only to die a slow agonizing death post-meeting. Jim never really understands what happened to his idea, other staff witness the penalty applied for suggesting new ideas, and the organization loses the benefit of future innovation and ideas. The wrong lesson is being taught, and sadly for too many associations senior staffs are learning it well. If we accept that human capital is our most vital (and expensive) competitive advantage, then actively engaging every team member is essential to success. Conveying to every staff member the expectation and understanding that their ideas and opinions matter and are essential to the success and functioning of the organization is a significant force multiplier. Executives can lead by example, asking insightful questions, making certain senior staff are sharing with their teams and that everyone both understands and “feels” the value of their contributions. It’s not only smart, but essential to effective and efficient senior staff meetings. Kerry C. Stackpole, CAE, is managing director of Neoterica Partners McLean, Virginia. He serves as an interim executive and as a leadership strategy and turnaround consultant to organizations. E-mail: [email protected]

Copyright © Kerry C. Stackpole, 2007. All Rights Reserved.