9.14.2007

Friday Five: Meetings, Meetings

I'm laughing at ReverendMother's Friday Five today, because I'm doing mine between two meetings!

Here we go, speedy edition:

1. What's your view of meetings? Choose one or more, or make up your own:a) When they're good, they're good. I love the feeling of people working well together on a common goal.b) I don't seek them out, but I recognize them as a necessary part of life.c) The only good meeting is a canceled meeting.
I'm going with option a on this one-- I love a meeting where the sharing of ideas really gets things done. Having said that, there are a lot of awful meetings to get through...

2. Do you like some amount of community building or conversation, or are you all business?
If you want to chat before or after the meeting (and I usually do), knock yourself out. Otherwise, I think it can be disrespectful of people's time to lolligag when there are things that need to be taken care of.

3. How do you feel about leading meetings? Share any particular strengths or weaknesses you have in this area.
I am very comfortable leading meetings. I think I'm pretty good at it-- I make it a point to encourage the people who want to be heard, to try to get everyone to at least understand what's being said (agreement is out of my hands), and I keep everyone on task very well. Having said that, I'm sure there might be people who feel that leaving chattiness out of the meeting time was a weakness.

4. Have you ever participated in a virtual meeting? (conference call, IM, chat, etc.) What do you think of this format?
I've been in on several conference calls, and my experience is that people tend to screw around. I don't particularly care for them, if there's an alternative.

5. Share a story of a memorable meeting you attended.
When I started facilitating our Christian Formation department meetings, I realized that my leadership skills were a lot stronger than I realized. It was a fantastic feeling. I learned that I was patient and a good listener, but also able to steer the meetings effectively. There's not one meeting that stands out, though I know we did good things that year. It was a good time to learn about myself.

6 comments:

  1. It is always a wonderful feeling to have your gifts affirmed. Congrats.

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  2. lolligaggers beware! i sooo agree with you on that! oh wait am i lolligagging now???? hee hee

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  3. sigh. I'd love to have you come lead the seminarian meetings I must attend... bleah...
    d

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  4. Good for you! Meetings that go well are a gift from God. Meetings that do not go well are also a gift from God : )

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  5. I'm with you on #1. nonproductive meetings are the pits, but one where you're further along at the end than when you began, yay!
    I think the key with "community-building" is to give a time limit, but I think that is true of the whole meeting. Effective meetings are planned, and have a set end time.

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  6. Interesting that you can learn about yourself through meetings...I need to sit back and watch myself ...(help)
    well played

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"So keep fightin' for freedom and justice, beloveds, but don't you forget to have fun doin' it. Lord, let your laughter ring forth. Be outrageous, ridicule the fraidy-cats, rejoice in all the oddities that freedom can produce. And when you get through kickin' ass and celebratin' the sheer joy of a good fight, be sure to tell those who come after how much fun it was."
-Saint Molly Ivins