Co-Creating a Vision and Action Plan (Cont.)
3. Effective Use of Meetings
It is important that partners meet face to face throughout the project, not just in the planning stages. The tendency can be that if the roles are clear and people are occupied executing the plan, too much time will pass without a meeting. There does not need to be an issue to discuss or a decision to be made in order for there to be a meeting. Be aware how much time has passed since the last meeting and schedule one just for a check-in.
At the same time, we can feel like we spend too much time in meetings, so we need to be careful to run our meetings very deliberately and effectively. One of the ways we can minimize our meeting time is to use phone and email appropriately, though there is a danger to over-rely on these methods and neglect the in-person contact that results in feeling connected, on the same team, and feeling support and encouragement from one another.
Purposes of Meetings
It is important before calling a meeting to carefully reflect on its purpose(s). Often, people are clear on only one element of purpose and are unaware of a variety of goals they need to pursue. Some of the purposes for meeting include the following:
- Information sharing
- Problem solving / seeking input
- Decision making
- Assigning responsibility for actions
- Group / team building
- Skill development / training
- Reflection and integration of feedback or evaluations
- Recognition, rewards, and celebration
4. Dividing Roles, Responsibilities, and Tasks
There are many different roles to play in a collaborative project. When thinking of roles consider both paid and unpaid participants. The roles should have a direct relationship to the tasks in the project and should be connected to the abilities and interests of those filling the roles.
Often in a collaboration there will be an interest in not only the distributing of roles, but also in naturally sharing roles, i.e., fulfilling roles jointly or in a “co” model: co-managing, co-coordinating, co-marketing.
Some common roles in collaborative projects include:
- Primary partners (often play the project management or coordination role)
- Administrative support role
- Secondary partners (investors and other supporting or advising stakeholders)
- Public relations and marketing, acting as the spokesperson/people, champions, or ambassadors
- Audience members, participants
- Reference / endorsement letters (not directly involved in implementation, but can speak to need and capacity of organization to undertake project)
- Other