Using Group Process Techniques to improve meeting effectiveness
运用团队流程技术来提高会议效率
原作者: James L. Creighton 翻译者:郑小华
Professional meeting facilitators have developed a number of "group process" techniques designed to help groups work more effectively in meetings. These group process techniques do make a difference. Research has shown that groups that use group process procedures are more satisfied with their decisions and more committed to their implementation.
专业的会议主持人应该具备一些成熟的“团队流程”技能来帮助你的团队在会议上更加有效率。这些团队流程技能必须做到与众不同。根据研究表明使用团队流程使得(团队)更加满意(会议)结论和更加坚定执行任务。
Does this mean you need a facilitator for your meeting? What a facilitator brings to a meeting is knowledge of these techniques, and even more important, an understanding of which technique is useful in a particular situation and a sense of timing as to when to suggest it. So if your meeting is exceptionally important, if there are major disputes, or if key players need to be participants rather than meeting leaders, then, "yes," a facilitator may be very useful.
这样说是不是你的会议需要一个那样的主持人呢?主持人带给会议的将是这些技能的知识,更重要的是,在特殊的情况一个易理解的技能的运用和时间上的把握。所以如果你的会议特别的重要,假如你(会议)有很多争论需要讨论,又或者有关键人物将参加会议,那肯定地,一个主持人是非常有用的。
But most managers are in scores of meetings, maybe hundreds of meetings every month. Senior managers often spend more that 50% of their time in meetings. The reality is that most managers won't have access to facilitators for most meetings. The challenge is to get value from the group process techniques that facilitators use, without always having to have a professional facilitator around to tell you which technique to use.
但是大多数经理需要参加非常多的会议,可能一个月会有数以百计的会议。威望高的经理们一般会花超过50%的时间在会议上。但事实上很多经理不能接受主持人进入好多会议。挑战在于在通过使用主持人的团队流程技巧而不是主持人在旁边告诉你(经理)要使用哪些技巧之中获得价值。
There are some basic principles you'll need to follow. Otherwise you may find yourself doing something that is the equivalent to using a spreadsheet application when you really need word processing – it may be an absolutely wonderful spreadsheet program, but if it is grossly inappropriate to the task it will impede rather than help the group work effectively.
这有些基本原则需要遵从。否则你可能发现自己做些事情的时候等同于当你真需要输入文字但是却使用空格键 – 它可能是绝对好的空格键,但如果非常的不适合任务,会阻碍而不是帮助提高团队协助效率。
The secret to avoiding this kind of problem is careful pre-planning of your meeting. I frequently tell my clients that at least 50% of the value I bring to their meetings as a facilitator will come from the work I do before the meeting. All the groundwork has to be laid before the first "Good morning, the purpose of today's meeting is...." An effective manager recognizes that he or she (or someone he/she designates) needs to spend upfront time to do the kind of meeting planning that a facilitator would do.避免这类问题的秘密是细心地做好计划。我多次同我的当事人说,至少50%的价值我带给他们的会议,作为一个主持人来工作我将在会议前做好。所有基本的东西得在说“早上好,今天会议的目的是…”之前布置好。一个有效率的经理识别他或她需要花预定的时间来做这一类主持人常做的会议计划。
Here are some of the issues you need to address during your pre-planning:
这里有一些问题在你的预备计划中你需要提出:
1. What type of meeting is this?◆◆◆◆
There are a number of very different meeting types, for example:
Information briefings Program/project planning or review
Trust building/team-building Decision-making
Generating new ideas or approaches Dispute resolution
Strategic planning Problem solving/crisis resolution
Commitment-building Celebrations
什么类型的会议?
有一些不同类型的会议,例如:
信息汇报 项目/工程计划或者审核
信任建立/团队建立 制定决策
孕育新构思或者处理争议决定
战略性计划 问题解决/重要决定
承诺建立 庆祝
The type of meeting, combined with the subject matter, tells you who needs to participate, what kind of interaction is needed to accomplish the meeting purpose, and provides the context for selection of group process techniques.
会议的类型,联系会议的主题,告诉你需要谁参加,哪些相互影响是需要实现会议的目的,和提供来龙去脉来选择团队流程技能。
Many meetings play multiple meeting functions. Agenda Item #1 may simply be an informational briefing, while Agenda Item #2 is a decision-making item, and Agenda Item #3 is a problem-solving item. Your agenda needs to clearly specify what kind of item it is. This tells people; "Here's what we expect from you during this agenda item." When this is not clear, people may engage in dysfunctional behavior even when trying very hard to be a good team player because they don't understand what they are being asked to do.
很多会议扮演着多重的会议功能。议程1可能是简单的信息汇报,而议程2则是决策确定,议程3是问题解决。你的议程需要清楚的表明是哪种类型。这里告诉大家,这些就是我们通过这些议程对你的预期。当这些不明确时,人们就可能会极力去理解而表现不正常,甚至非常困难去做一个好的团队成员,因为他们不明白被叫去做什么?
In the future, as various kinds of collaborative technologies becomes common, defining the meeting purpose will be a prelude to the question; "How many senses does this meeting require?" If the purpose of the meeting is trust-building, you probably need a face-to-face meeting with everybody is present in the room (all five senses). If the meeting is strictly informational, you may do better to post the information on the intranet, and let people download it at their own convenience (1–2 senses).
未来,各种各样的协作技能将会变得很普遍,给会议的目的作出定义将会成为问题的序;这个会议有多少个意义呢?如果会议的目的是信任的建立,那么你很可能会在会议室里面和每个人面对面的进行(所有5种意义)。如果会议仅仅是发布消息,你在内部发布消息应该做得更好,和让人们很舒适地下载。
Where in the decision-making process are we?
Reaching a decision usually requires a number of discrete steps, such as defining the problem, generating alternatives, and so on. Sometimes those steps all occur in one meeting. But on major decisions these steps are often sequenced over a number of meetings.
在确定决策的时候我们应该在哪呢?
到达决定的时候通常都要通过很多独立的步骤,例如定义问题,酝酿选择等等。有时候那些步骤发生在同一个会议,但是主要的决断这些步骤通常会通过一连串的会议进行确定。
At each step, different behavior is required of participants. So it is imperative that the meeting planner specify where in the decision making process this meeting (or this agenda item) is.
在每个步骤,要求参与者有不同的表态。所以会议计划人员指出会议在什么时候作出决策或者议程是什么是非常重要的。
There are a number of ways of describing the steps in the decision-making process, but the one I continue to find the most universal is:
Define the problem or opportunity (may include defining criteria for acceptability or success)
Generate alternatives
eva luate alternatives
Select a course of action
Define the implementation plan
Establish mechanisms for determining whether or not your approach is working
有非常多的方法去描述制定决策的步骤,但是有一点我一直觉得最常见的是:
定义问题或者机会(可能包括定义可接受或成功的准则)
产生选择
衡量选择
选择方针
定义完成的计划
建立无论你是否开始工作的决定的方法
I find it very helpful, particularly among people who work together frequently, to have a clearly defined series of steps that the group uses whenever they make decisions. It doesn't have to be the one above, so long as it works for the kinds of issues people in your organization are addressing. What does matter is that it is used frequently enough so that people develop a common language and common set of expectations for each step in the process. I recommend you post these steps in each meeting room, so that participants can refer to them at a glance.
我发现非常有用,特别对于一些经常在一起工作的人,清晰地定义一系列团队任何时候作出决策的步骤。什么都不需要做,只要在你的组织里工作你必须要写入通讯录。这是怎么回事经常使用它会使人们在进程中每个步骤发展成共同的语言和共同的期待。需要提醒你在每个会议室发布那些步骤,使得参与者能一目了然。
Which group process technique is appropriate for this meeting (or for this agenda item)?
Most group process techniques are useful for only one of the steps in the decision making process. A key example is the technique known as "brainstorming." The key elements of brainstorming are to engage the group in generating a large quantity of alternatives, suspending judgment as to which ideas are workable. This is a very powerful technique – in fact, it often generates so many options that it overpowers the team's ability to eva luate the alternatives in a reasonable period of time.
哪些团队流程技术适合会议呢(或者适合议程)?
很多团队流程技术仅仅对其中一些作出决策的环节有用。一个重要的例子技术上认为是“集体讨论”。集体讨论关键的因素是吸引团队产生一个大量的选择,中止判断哪些想法更加可使用。这是一个非常有威力的技能—实际上,它经常在合理的时间压倒团队力量对选择作出评估而产生很多选择。
But it is a technique that is useful primarily for the "generate alternatives" step in decision making. Yet I've seen people use the technique at many other steps in the process. The participants will obediently generate all kinds of answers, but then nobody will know what to do with these answers because they don't seem to be contributing to resolution. In fact, they seem to be taking you back to an earlier step in the process (they are).
但是它对作出决议的“产生选择”最初环节里有用。然而我已经见到人们在其他很多的环节里也用到,参与者将顺从地产生各种各样的答案,但是没人知道对于这些答案如何去做,因为他们看起来不像对解决问题有帮助。事实上,他们看起来像是将你带回最初的阶段。
Here's a quick summary of some of the issues at each step in the decision making process, and some of the useful group process techniques for each step:
这里有些关于在制定决策的每个环节的总结和一些有用的团队流程技能:
Define the Problem or Opportunity
The biggest problem with this step is to get people to do it! Groups have an amazing capacity for skipping over problem definition and going straight to thinking about possible solutions. Not only do they go straight to solutions, they go straight to the solutions they already know how to do, (e.g. if your company makes widgets, you'll assume that the solution to the problem is to make a widget).
定义问题或者机会
这个环节的最大问题是让人们去做!团队有一种神奇的力量跳过问题去定义和继续思考解决问题的可能性。不但止他们直接去解决,他们直接去解决他们已经知道的(例如,如果你的公司是做饰品的,你将假设去解决制作饰品的问题)。
The problem with this behavior is that you are likely to come up with a truly wonderful solution to the wrong problem, or you don't think through the fundamental issues so you come up with something that is just a patch on top of prior patches.
这个行为的问题是你有可能准备给错误的问题很好的解决方法,或者你没有彻底想清楚基本的问题所以提供的东西像个补丁。
Here are a few techniques for helping groups define problems:
这里有些技能帮助你团队定义问题:
Force Field Analysis: Have the group brainstorm two lists: (1) forces that are "driving" for change; (2) forces that are "restraining" change. Then discuss strategies to eliminate the restraining forces and capitalize on the driving forces.
说服力分析:做两个团队集体讨论的清单:(1)说服力是改变的驱动;(2)说服力是改变的约束。然后讨论对策去排除约束的力量和利用力量的驱动。
Relationship Diagrams: Write a short statement of an issue or problem on a card (or large post-it) and stick it on a blank wall. Give everyone cards and ask them to identify the factors that affect the issue or problem, writing one idea per card (big enough so that they are easy to read). Move the cards around so that the factors that are related to each other are located together. Analyze the relationships. Use colored tape or strings to show cause-effect relationship. Those cards that are most often seen as being a cause (have the most tape or strings attached) are more likely to be the root cause of your problem.
图表关系:在卡片上写一个争议和问题简短说明和贴在白墙上。给每个人一个卡片和问他们识别对争论和问题的的影响因素,在每个卡片上写上一个构思(足够大的卡片方便他们阅读)。传递这些卡片所以那些因素关系到每个人而联系在一起。分析这些关系。用一些涂有颜色的绳子去展示因果关系。那些卡片最经常被看作为起因(有很多绳子)最可能是问题的根源。
Immersion: Hold the session in a facility that permits the group to move around, break off into small groups, or even work alone. Before the team gathers, create a "high stimulus" environment containing anything that might be related to the issue -- articles, books, pictures, (even toys that can be used to diagram or model ideas, e.g. Tinker Toys). Break into small groups and ask small groups to prowl through any of the materials they want. Give them a time deadline to report back anything they've found that might apply to the problem. After the reports, agree on promising trends and give teams new assignments related to those trends. Only after you've totally immersed yourselves in thinking about the problem from many different perspectives does the team try to reach agreement on the problem definition.
浸泡:保持会议在便利中而允许团队流动,中止进入小团队或者孤身奋战。在团队集合前,建立一个包括任何事物—艺术品,书籍,图画,(甚至玩具都可以用在图表或者模型构思,例如廷克玩具)的“亢奋”的环境。闯进小团体请求他们寻求物质需要。给他们一个期限汇报他们发现可能对解决问题有帮助的任何事情。在汇报后,与(他们)达成一直的前景希望,并给予他们关于这前景的新的任务。只有在你完全沉浸在从不同角度思考问题,团队试着在问题定义上达成一致。
Invent the Problem: After "immersion," state the problem as if you know the outcome, but just don't know how you got there. For example, a car rental executive might say: "Picture this. You've got no central reservation system and things are running very well. The workload is up but costs are way down. How did you do it?"
创造问题:在“浸泡”之后,好像知道结果一样陈述问题,但是仅仅不知道怎样做到。例如,一个汽车出租管理员说“拍摄这个,你已经没有中央分车带系统并且所有东西都很好工作,工作量上升但成本却减低,你是怎么做到的?”