Taking responsibility after meetings and how coaching can support it

You have surely experienced those situations where everyone is nodding their heads in the meeting but no one wants to take responsibility for the actions in the future? After our first article about meetings, we decided to continue exploring this topic in more detail with our colleagues and coaches. This time - great Boris Magaš, Nina Rogulja Jončić and Nevena Stanojević.

All our interlocutors agreed with our previous colleagues that having an agenda, conclusions/notes and action steps are key enablers for successful meetings.

“The meeting organizer should take care about these factors. Of course, this job is a team sport so anyone can jump in with taking minutes to make facilitation easier. Responsibility for agreed actions should not be on one person, it has to be properly deployed to the whole team working on some project. By working together and with strong will, great results can be achieved”, with this Boris made an excellent introduction to our conversation.

“This is a really challenging topic and sometimes I wonder whether this is a matter of personal responsibility or connected with the topic of your previous article and a consequence of inefficient meetings. From my experience, teams are most likely to fall into this trap when several people, especially when they are seniors, are included in the same activity and invited to give their perspective and contribution, but there is no one single accountable person for the whole task. Those meetings are usually full of ideas, but once they are finished, everyone thinks that someone else will actually do the job”, shares Nevena.

In her opinion the most important conditions which should be fulfilled are:

Assigning accountability for the entire work to only one person and clearly communicating that to all team members. Others can be responsible for particular tasks, but one should oversee the whole. Also, it is very important to give that person responsibility to make decisions through the execution, especially when there will be strong, but different opinions of how things should be done.
Defining deadlines for completion of each task and scheduling follow up meetings with concrete agenda. For Nevena, deadlines are very essential, because they give some frame and help to organize the work. Still, it needs to be ensured that they are reasonable, not too short term while still not too far ahead. The same is with follow up meetings. Too many can slow you down, but having them in an appropriate manner will ensure things don’t fall through the cracks and will also give you a great sense of accomplishment.
Clearness of what was agreed is also essential. If outcome of the meeting was clear and everyone knows exactly what is expected from them, presumably, they will complete all assigned tasks and feel motivated to continue.

“As you very well described in the previous blog post – there are various tips & tricks for efficient meetings which often could help people prepare better and know the topic”, underlines Nina.

Nina shares her perspective and advice which can increase chances to involve participants, speed up the decision process and encourage taking responsibility after the meeting.

Managing expectations – How many times has it happened that someone comes to a meeting and says something like “I’ll have to check it with my superior?” People often do not have autonomy to make decisions. Or they simply do not have all the information. To minimize chances this happens you can send in advance some information about expectations from participants. Example: Our goal is document archiving process automatization. For this meeting participants should prepare to explain how this process now looks like and all legal aspects of this process about keeping originals and copies.

Active involvement – The meeting organizer should take care about involvement of all participants. To summarize and paraphrase what has been said is critical. In the virtual world it is especially important saying out loud conclusions and meaning you hear from someone’s words (example: I see Nina nodding with her head and I’m assuming she agrees with suggestions. Nina, correct me if I’m wrong).

Raising attention and engagement – Sometimes there are tasks anybody can do, but there are no volunteers. The same is when someone should start with something first. You can use virtual “lucky wheel” (wheelofnames.com) to pick a random winner (of course you should confirm they agree ☺).

Parking – you can make real, hard copy (flipchart on the wall) or virtual (miro, mural, jamboard) parking for topics raised which are not directly connected to meeting goal. If the discussion escalates, take responsibility for "parking" those topics and getting the team back on track.

Reminders and preparation for follow up – You’ve sent meeting minutes and you expect that everyone works on his/her task? WRONG! Beside your project people have other tasks and initiatives. To ensure progress, it is always helpful to send a kind reminder. Also, blaming games should be avoided and if something wrong happens analyse what actions are needed for success next time.

Motivation boost – How often do you put somebody’s boss in cc to ensure reading of email? And how many times have you done that to praise someone's work and involvement? Show gratitude and if you have some internal recognition program – use it! If you have some internal social network post photo from your meeting and show participants that they are part of something significant.

How coaching can support taking responsibility?

“Establishing trust is the basis (along with psychological safety) on the job I’m currently performing. Considering work with individuals (1:1 coaching) and with teams (team coaching) results can be excellent after certain time period. People are going to connect better, team is going to react better in time of changes and people are going to support and help more to each other. And if people are open to accept changes – sky is the limit”, says Boris.

Nina confirms that the coach skillset is very applicable for this purpose. For example orientation to action and results, defining focus and estimating what is in our control and what defines success can help a lot. Empowering questions as a main tool of any coach can enable active engagement of stakeholders, analysing available resources and encouraging thinking about potential contribution of every individual.

Nevena adds that above all, coaching can help with its magical first small steps.

Likewise, being familiar with ICF coaching competencies can improve the relationship between the whole team and person responsible for the job. It is of great interest for the team to cultivate trust and safety in the person who holds accountability. Team members should have confidence and believe in their unique talents and ability to complete the job as best as possible and show openness to all their perceptions, ideas and concerns. Also, the whole team should be there to provide necessary support and help, if needed. If this is not the case within the team over a period of time, members show distrust in each other and do not feel committed to team tasks. When this contributes to poor performance and piling unfinished tasks, hiring an internal or external coach could be the solution. Team coaching can help to discover the core team issues, support the team dynamics and build good relations in the team, while developing all team members individually, as well.

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And - if you stayed until the end and read all of these outstanding advices – here is one more as a bonus from great Kirsten Dierolf, MCC, leader of Solutions Academy. What to do when all participants say that “somebody should do something”.

To read about technique just – follow the link.