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1. Have you managed to try out what you learned at Leading Meetings?

2. What have you tried?

3. How did it go?

4. What's your take away

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Conducted work plan review.

Started meeting with a check in using visual stimulus and setting “permission slips”.

Sent out pre-work for team members to fill in before discussing.

Did smaller group discussions for more targeted discussions and came back together for collective sharing.

Meeting ended on time. Happy. 😊

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Completed department work review meeting. Meeting has warm up activity to get teachers ready for the meeting. All teachers were given opportunities to reflect and voice out their opinions. Overall timing of meeting is just nice and everyone was participative and gave suggestions constructively.

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Understand the actual purpose and intention of meetings

Shared with fellow colleague about it and in discussion how we can fully utilise track meeting

No final conclusion yet but hope to see and effect change how meetings are run

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Key ideas on Leading Meetings:

meeting leaders as a stewart of everyone’s time

successful and effective meetings drive towards ACTION

What worked:

Being intentional in crafting meeting objectives and agenda, and assigning roles

Calibrating with co-leads key stakeholders before meeting to align on objectives and facilitation method

Identifying clear roles and articulating them to meeting members before meeting starts

Key takeaway: meetings should value add to everyone present and being intentional with clarity is an effective way to achieve that

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Had not have the chance to conduct any meetings yet. But the takeaway from last sessions did help me get prepared for the year end meetings, such as send meeting materials out prior to meeting, setting a duration for each segment.

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Am in the midst of having performance review meetings, workplan reviews and camp meetings:

Provided agenda beforehand, did check-ins beforehand.

Indicated how long these meetings will take

Some meetings eventually cannot materialise due to shift in schedules and time constraints. So, I have to adapt and do huddles with team members before and after they dispersed for their more pressing events or activities. Each huddle didn't take more than 5 minutes because I provided simple pre-work so when we met, we did a quick update on our status.

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- have team to prepare before the meeting. Helps to reduce the meeting time and increase meeting effectiveness and engagement.

- allocated magic time for the team and only use it when required.

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have not had to plan/lead my own meeting, but had a meeting together with other subject heads/HODs.

gave space for others to voice opinions and thoughts, and considered more options before sharing my own.

gathered info based on agenda set by HOD in preparation for discussion.

brought up topics that meeting members are stakeholders of in order to get more meaningful discussion and problem solving.

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I tried to avoid gathering everyone for a meeting. Instead, I gave instructions in my email for everyone to follow through and work offline first. If there was a need later, I would get in touch with those affected as not everyone needs to be there.

I received an email thereafter to call for everyone to gather for a meeting anyway.

I didn’t get the outcome that I was looking for so I called for everyone to gather for a meeting anyway and I encountered some people getting upset about being there.

Thinking back, instead of having everyone meet, call for the meeting and give people a choice - if they think it affects them, then come for the meeting.

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I didnt get to attend last training. But to me a good meeting would include:

Setting clear agenda

Preparation work done before meeting

Having a "timer" to help watch time

Facilitator to ensure discussion stays on course and ends on positive note

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Last session allowed me to better prepare the small group meeting which involve my own team and other stakeholders

Clear Agenda: Aim of meeting and duration

To inform participants if there are pre-work required

To present the draft plan (clear and concise)

To identify areas to seek for inputs (ask clarifying questions)

2-way communication and ideas seeking

To identify how draft plan impact manpower, process flow, logistics etc

To share and highlight possible issues which affect the implementation of plan

To send the meeting materials after meeting (alignment)

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1. I did observation and feedback sessions with my reportees. (Agenda- staff to do pre evaluation and objective of the observation. prep work/start with question, think and process before feedback given)

2. conducted engaging sessions with individual to seek to understand any challenges , hear reportees of their growth and development (periodical check-in sessions) and areas of support required / learned skillset acquired (review, fine tuning and improvement)

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Switching Agenda topic into questions.

Helps to reframe and refocus on what is important.

Turns out to be quite a positive and engaging session for the parties involved.

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Sending out agenda and objectives prior to the meeting helps in increasing staff engagement and effectiveness.

During the meeting, everyone has a clear end goal in mind and will work towards the common goal. Sharing of different thoughts and views to meet the objective.

Stood around for discussion also allows meeting times to be shorter.

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Having agendas & to-do-lists helps us stay on track and keep time

Everyone coming prepared ahead of time helps us to spend the time together more effectively

Coordinating the Team: A clear list of who is responsible for which tasks at the end of the meeting

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Only participated in very important meetings like class placement, manpower planning.

Key take away from the previous session:

self awareness

Self responsibility

These words help me see meetings with a different lens. I reflected on myself and became more aware of my reason to attending these meetings and my responsibilities - what I have to do after these meetings.

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I organized a stand-up meeting with a group of teachers I needed to meet. I suggested an open area away from traffic, and some were initially puzzled and double-checked the venue. I clarified that the meeting would take place in an open area without chairs and tables. At the start of the meeting, I informed them that it would be a stand-up meeting, and encouraged them to try it if they found it effective at the end.

I believe the objective was achieved; people seemed more focused and the discussions were more efficient with quicker conversation, and time was used efficiently. I'm still awaiting feedback from them as they try it out

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I sent out the agenda and some guiding questions to get the members to brainstorm before coming so that the meeting is more effective. We spent time discussing rather than just being quiet and thinking. The meeting felt much more productive and not “a waste of time”

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The key message that I've taken away from the Leading Meeting module is that "everyone's time is precious and it's important not to waste people's time. I realised that an effective meeting takes time to plan. I had to be intentionally mindful to plan for a meeting next Wee and have to keep it within 1 hour. I took about 30 mins to plan the meeting and thought that it helped to keep my meeting agenda focused. I have also sent out the meeting agenda and questions in advance so that everyone is prepared for the meeting instead of spending time thinking during the meeting. I hope that I can achieve an effective meeting next week.

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Didn't manage to attend last wk lesson. Something I haven't been practicing and would like to practice is sending agenda in advance even for straightfoward meeting/discussions e.g class placement.

To avoid having urgent/last min mtg with out agenda as it gives pressure/stress to staff.

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Being more intentional in creating an agenda list by ordering the goals according to strategic importance. Send document ahead of time for them to input their feedback and give each of them time during the actual meeting to voice their opinions by taking turns to speak.

Creating psychological safety for others to open up > having some Face-to-Face interactions help so that people gradually feel more comfortable sharing.

Pre-empting people that they will be sharing during the meeting and making them feel that they want their voice to be heard. Using the phrase ‘you are invited to share during the meeting…’ helps > the way this is phrased is important so that people don’t feel pressured.

During the meeting, when a good and applicable suggestion is said > praise and explain why it is a good idea. If a suggestion that is not so applicable is mentioned, explain why it is so rather than just moving on, thank the person for giving the suggestion nevertheless.

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I find that the meetings are more effective and productive with pre-work done and have also received positive feedback from the team on the change (everyone is more aligned and have a clearer picture on what’s happening), there are more contributions from the team too. On top of that, people who were not in the loop previously can also catch what’s happening and follow through as the meeting was clear (has clear agenda and everyone’s prepared)

Also realised that pre-work can be time consuming too, which if looking at big picture, the time used may about the same as before, however, the results are adversely different.

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I have lead meetings with class teachers and did performance review  with my reportees.

Getting the attendees to do prep work prior to the discussion really helps alot as everyone came in prepared. Each one shared during the discussion on strategies and it is meaningful and productive in a way as everyone in the meeting is sharing and participating. No one is left behind.

It is important  to have a 2 way communication and allow the team to have a space to voice out.

I also ensure to email what was discussed and check on their understanding and also informed on the next action steps.

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Have been implementing Magic Time. It helps the team to create a routine. People are more ready. But after awhile, it can settle into “same old, same old”. Will need to shake things up sometimes.

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Due to the end of year with lots of events going on, there was not much time for a meeting. However, I told 2 of my team members that we can address important key points with a walking meeting. It was fast and at the end of it, key points were addressed. And after the meeting, I have also reached my desired destination with the 2 team members to meet up for the rest of the other team member for exam vetting.
Takeaways: to the point, all people contribute to the meeting

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1. I tried a walking meeting. It was short but very focused and I noticed that I could keep to the key points as I am aware to wrap up the meeting as I near my end destination of the walk.

2. With the new year approaching and changes anticipated, I have notified my team that there will be more regular meetings while we work on the adjustments, but the meetings will be organised differently to improve focus.

3. Some meetings tend to overrun. I have learnt to delegate roles to the attendees of the meetings, especially a time keeper to help manage the time.