In short, the meeting was generally productive because we had successfully covered most of the topics in our agenda. The meeting notice was sent out at an appropriate timing; this gave the team member adequate amount of time to go through the agenda and make preparations ahead of the meeting, as well as knowing what to expect on the content of the meeting. Prior to our meeting, each team member had to analyze the question and present their views at the meeting. As the leader of my team, I am responsible for leading the team in the discussion and allowing everyone to have equal opportunity in expressing their opinions about the project, especially since this is one of the biggest since the start of university education.
I felt I have done sufficiently in ensuring minimum digression. This was done by showing the agenda in a laptop placed in front of us during the meeting, so my teammates could make easy references to it throughout the discussion itself. As a result, we managed to spend considerable efforts focusing on the project and fulfilling our agenda. However, I thought I could have done better in my part on promoting the flow of ideas during the discussion. This was highlighted by the occasional pauses of silence in some parts of the meeting, where we were all stumped by the difficulty of the questions. Had I analyzed the question more thoroughly, I would be better able to lead the team along to decompose the problem into simpler sub-parts so as to prevent blackout of ideas.
Jason and Gulabi did a good job in helping me to ensure that we should focus on a detailed analysis of the situation and not rushing straight to the solution itself. Many times we thought that we had formulated a perfect solution, but either one among the 3 of us would initiate a rebuttal to make us reconsider our decisions. The two of them also assisted me greatly in time management, so that we do not spend too much time discussing a single problem. These, to me, are signs of good teamwork.
A situation to avoid when conducting meetings:
courtesy of http://www.wetherobots.com/comics/2008-06-16-MeetingTime.jpg
Hi Brandon,
ReplyDeleteI could not agree more that the camera was a very distracting factor and I was not so focused in the beginning of the meeting as I was constantly reminding myself to have proper behavior in this meeting. However, as the meeting goes, things start to pick up and the flow of the meeting became smoother.
It is good that you had in mind the problem of overrunning. This is a common mistake made in a meeting and some times, the meeting goes on for a very long period of time without having any objectives fulfilled, which I think is a waste of time. I am hopeful that in future meetings you will be more prepared and will be able to lead the discussion better.
Commitment is important in a meeting and it has an impact on the discussion. There will be active participation if members are committed and better responses and comments will be received. It is good that the distraction during the meeting did not affect the meeting greatly.
Overall, you had made a good post as you have mentioned things that can be improved, as an individual and being a member of your team and you have also mentioned good behaviors that can be maintained in future meetings.
Jason
Hi Brandon,
ReplyDeleteI agree that everyone will inevitably feel self conscious with a video camera facing you as you talk. But as the meeting progresses, I am sure you felt less distracted by the camera and more focused on the job on hand.
It is good to be conscious of the time constraint and not causing overrun. However, if you feel too strongly about keeping the time during the meeting, your speech pattern may seem rushed and will thus influence your team members to be overly affected by the time constraint. And in a way this will be one distraction to the progress of your meeting, as everyone is too conscious of the time to give insightful and well thought out comments.
I feel glad for you that your group seemed generally focused on the task and gave each other the due attention when any of you were speaking. This is the first step towards having effective meetings.
Maybe you can also touch on how your other
groupmates have contributed to the meeting.
And overall, your post is well-balanced by mentioning the positive, the negative aspects of your meeting, and also how it should be improved.
Regards,
Cherlia
Hi Brandon,
ReplyDeleteYou are the first person that described the filmed meeting as interesting. However, I find it weird from the way you describe how distracting the camera was. I know hand phone can be distracting for you at times. However, not everyone has the same opinion as you about their hand phones. I, for example, do not find my hand phone distracting. Thus, I may not understand why you can link the word “distracting” with hand phone. It is good to use unique similes but you will need to take note of the double meaning of the word used.
Since you are aware that you usually have some nonverbal cues that can amuse others, why didn’t you take note of it during the meeting and not amuse the rest of your teammates? You may want to ask your teammates what are the nonverbal cues that amuse them and how you can prevent from making similar nonverbal cues for your future meetings.
I am glad that all your teammates are focusing on the discussion. It certainly helps to make the meeting an efficient and fruitful one.
Li Hua
Hi Brandon,
ReplyDeleteI agree that the camera is a very distracting element in the meeting. Most of us are not used to having a camera in front of us and even more so for academic purposes. Therefore, most of us would try to control our actions and speech, which I feel that it is not productive for a meeting with the members not concentrating on the meeting itself. However, it appears that most of us also forget about the camera after a while, as we get more involved in the meeting.
Time management is an important part of a meeting. As we would want to keep the meeting to the scheduled time and not overrun, as it may cause inconveniences to other members. However, rushing matters will not help. A possible solution to this is to plan how much time is needed for each part of the agenda. It would be a good idea to include some extra time, so that it will account for time needed for other matters such as slight overruns or other unforeseen situations.
As for the issue of lack of understanding of the assignment, I am sure everyone has their own interpretation of the question. Everyone in the group should take turns to share their own understanding and question each other, so as to gain a common understanding. This will allow the group to work towards a common direction, which will be beneficial in the long run. To prevent groupthink, as someone who did not prepare may just follow the previous person’s idea, I suggest writing each person’s idea on a piece of paper and use it to share instead of just talking.
Overall, I feel that your meeting is an effective one, as everyone is committed and willing to contribute. I hope that my comments will help you to conduct more efficient meetings.
Leonard (C06)
Hi Brandon,
ReplyDeleteYou have an interesting take on your meeting; it was really enjoyable to read. It was excellent that you are fully aware of how you act in front of others and that will be the first stop towards self-improvement.
I agree that in such a meeting, time constraints are a major issue, and sometimes when pushing things forwards, you end up rushing the discussion and somewhat ruin it too. On your point of using the examples in the tutorials, it is not exactly bad as it shows that you are making the effort to relate the past and the present together, although it might not be entirely relevant, it is the thought that counts.
However, I do not understand your analogy of the video camera and your mobile phone. You made the assumption that everyone else perceives their mobile phone the same way you do, which can (and has led to) communication breakdown.
I felt yours was a fruitful meeting, and you have managed to achieve much.
Kimberly
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