Don't Just Do Something, Stand There! Ten Principles for Leading Meetings That Matter

No wonder people everywhere are so cynical about “another meeting,” having attended so many they considered poorly led, counter-productive, and time-wasting. The purpose of Don’t Just Do Something, Stand There! is to outline the ten principles for structuring and managing meetings. Whether it is a meeting in your community, in a board rooms, with work teams, in offices, schools, factories, or hospitals, Don’t Just Do Something, Stand There! shows you how to start leading meetings the right way. The book is organized into two major sections, the first discusses how to successfully structure and manage meetings. The second, shows the keys to “managing yourself” — illustrating techniques to deal with anxiety, getting used to projections, establishing dependability, and learning to say “no” in order to make your “yes” mean anything. This book shows groups how to achieve shared goals in a timely way, manage differences without flying apart, solve problems and make tough decisions, all without inefficiently re-delegating the tasks addressed. It delves into the details of how to structure meetings to greatly increase the probability that people will accept responsibility for their own actions. And additionally discusses the importance of philosophical perspectives, the “benefits of anxiety”, and techniques for saying “no” to unrealistic requests. The book shows how, instead of deferring action until all defects are remedied, one can make structural changes in real time that keep groups whole, open, and task-focused. By learning to help people put forward their best selves in ambiguous situations, one can make a positive ripple in the stream of life. Don’t Just Do Something, Stand There! explains and demonstrates when to act and when to just stand there, and in doing so, shows how to change the world one meeting at a time.