A mini case study
Sarah is in middle of facilitating a key decision making meeting with her team. There is a serious problem on the project that must be resolved. It took a while to get this meeting scheduled because the people who needed to be involved are working on a number of other initiatives. She also needed to get permission to get everyone co-located for the meeting.
The meeting has only been going on for 30 minutes. In that time, 3 of the 7 team members attending the meeting have gone in and out of the meeting a number of times.
How should Sarah handle the situation?
Here is what Sarah might do: Sarah should stop the meeting when everyone is in the room. She should clarify the purpose for getting together and that 100% commitment is needed from everyone who is in the meeting. This means no leaving the meeting room except for scheduled breaks, cells phones to be turned off and full participation. She should review ground rules with the group and ask for them to contribute to the development of ground rules.
If the situation contines after this “reset,” then Sarah should have a private discussion with the three team members. If they cannot, or will not, commit, she might suggest that they remove themselves from the meeting since it is an essential, time sensitive issue being addressed.
