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Research Into Action - Effective Meetings Can Increase Your Coalitions Volunteers
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Coalition resources: Coalition Effectiveness, National Coalition Institute, Planning, Promoting Your Coalition, Research To Practice
2.9 MB pdfEffective Meetings Can Increase Your Coalition’s Volunteers
Are ineffective coalition meetings resulting in low volunteer rates or high job turnover? Research shows that participants are less likely to contribute to or attend future meetings if one’s perception of meeting effectiveness decreases. Organizations that consistently hold poorly constructed meetings may also experience increased staff turnover. These ineffective meetings can negatively impact overall attitudes within and outside of the organization.
For coalitions, meetings provide the venue for strategic planning, collaboration, and overall preparation. Key stakeholders need to attend these meetings and leave feeling their time was well spent. Dissatisfaction could result in losing the participation of partners necessary to carry out a coalition’s strategic plan. The current research on organizational meetings is in some ways applicable to the meeting structure of coalitions. Given this, those in charge of calling and organizing coalition meetings should learn the key design issues that promote meeting effectiveness.
How did they do it?
After conducting a thorough review of the literature, the researchers, D.J. Leach from Leeds University Business School, S.G. Rogelberg from University of North Carolina Charlotte, along with P.B. Warr from the Institute of Work Psychology and J.L. Burnfield from the Human Resources Organization, extracted the following five meeting design characteristics for further study: (1) using an agenda, (2) keeping minutes, (3) punctuality (starting and ending on time), (4) quality of meeting facilities, and (5) having a chairperson. Past research suggested that meetings that included these components may be more likely to be considered effective.
The researchers conducted two separate studies to gather information on meeting effectiveness. The first study asked one group of participants to answer questions about prescheduled meetings they attended in a typical week. The second study asked a different group of participants about the last meeting they attended during the workday. The researchers used a similar survey for both studies that included questions about their overall perceived meeting effectiveness, participant level of meeting involvement, whether or not the meeting(s) included each of the five design characteristics and various demographic measures.
The final samples for both studies indicate many similarities with the exception of size. The first study analyzed a total of 958 individual responses while the second study analyzed 292 responses. Both male and female respondents from the United States, the United Kingdom and Australia participated in both studies. Individuals reported working in a variety of sectors including private for profit, private not for profit, quoted private and public. Over half of the respondents in each study had supervisory responsibilities and had been employed for an average of 6-7 years at their current organization.
What did they find?
The five meeting design characteristics studied displayed a significant relation to perceived meeting effectiveness. The
researchers found several similarities between the two studies; the most significant being using an agenda, starting and ending on time and holding the meeting in a high quality facility.
Results showed that having an agenda increased perceptions of meeting effectiveness but an incomplete agenda reduced effectiveness. Meeting duration did not directly affect perceptions of meeting effectiveness, but participants viewed longer meetings with an incomplete agenda as less effective than shorter meetings (meeting duration ranged from less than 15 minutes to more than 5 hours). In both studies participants that reported higher levels of involvement in the meeting also reported higher
perceptions of meeting effectiveness.
No significant differences existed between the three meeting types (routine issues, information sharing, special problems). Therefore, one should consider these design characteristics for all types of meetings. Similarly, meeting size did not have a direct effect on perceptions of meeting effectiveness.
What Coalitions Can Do
Provide an agenda and complete it. − The results of this study show that meeting attendees are more likely to feel they attended an effective meeting when provided with an agenda ahead of time and when the meeting begins and ends on time. However, the research cautions against not completing all the criteria on your agenda because it may cause participants to question the value of your meeting and may affect their attendance in the future.
Hold meetings in comfortable meeting facilities. − While the research does not go into detail on what makes a good meeting facility one might presume that factors that hinder your meeting process should be avoided when possible. Make sure you have a good table arrangement, all props are visible, and that the meeting is held in a well-lighted room, free of distractions and with access to necessary amenities such as bathrooms. Fulfilling some of these simple needs will help increase the success of your meetings.
Promote attendee involvement whenever possible. − Overall, your meeting is more likely to be perceived as effective if the attendees feel their participation is valued. Based on the findings in this study, attendee involvement may be the most important factor in a participant’s perception of a successful meeting. Remember to take the meeting size into account, as larger meetings can make it more difficult to involve participants. If you do need to hold large meetings, think carefully about ways to get your attendees involved in the process. One possible solution is using smaller working groups.
For more information or to review the original source please refer to:
Leach, D.J., Rogelberg, S.G., Warr, P.B, & Burnfield, J.L. (2009) Perceived meeting effectiveness: The role of design characteristics. The Journal of Business and Psychology. 24:65-76.