What’s worse than a boring meeting?

Imagine a conference room where those gathered, despite the best of intentions, are launching metaphoric war against each other. The participants spend their time engaging in personal attacks against their colleagues and any idea dared presented is destroyed in the crossfire. In the end, all that anyone takes away from the meeting are lasting scars.

Managing healthy conflict in a meeting is vital to the success of any organization. After all, one of the main reasons to hold a meeting is to robustly discuss ideas. However, without ground rules for engagement, meetings can become adverse spaces where no one wants to tread. Therefore, are their ways to manage conflict in meetings to get positive results and enthusiastic engagement?

I’m excited to share that I wrote a chapter for a new book on library management publishing this fall. It is titled, Librarianship Beyond the Textbook: A Practical Guide for Real-World Challenges. In my chapter on running effective meetings, I share several ways to enable healthy discussion when everyone is gathered around the conference table. Here are a few suggestions to consider right now.

• Set Ground Rules: Establish norms for respectful communication and ensure everyone understands that differing opinions are welcome. No one will be judged or criticized on their contributions.
  
• Encourage Diverse Perspectives: Actively invite input from all participants by emphasizing that differing viewpoints are valuable for the discussion.
  
• Focus on the Issue, Not the Person: Encourage team members to address ideas rather than personal attributes of the other participants. This helps keep discussions constructive.
  
• Use “Yes, and…”: This technique from improvisation encourages building on each other’s ideas by tossing out the word “no.” The invitation in the “and” fosters collaboration.

In my chapter, I share many tips and strategies for successful meetings, including defining the purpose, selecting the participants, setting agendas, and ensuring next actions are assigned.

To read more about this topic and get great management tips from the other contributing library leaders, be sure to order your copy of Librarianship Beyond the Textbook: A Practical Guide for Real-World Challenges.