by Marvin Weisbord, Sandra Janoff
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Product Description
Most people think meetings are all too often a waste of time. But Weisbrod and Janoff say that's only because of the way most meetings are run. In this book they offer ten principles that will allow you to get more done in meetings by doing less. The key is knowing what you can and can't control. You can't controol people's motives, behavior, or attitudes. That's one area where most meeting leaders' attempts to "do something" actually end up doing nothing at all. But you can control the conditions under which people interact, and you can control your own reactions. Based on over 30 years of experience and extensive research, the authors show exactly how to establish a meeting structure that will create conditions for success, efficiency, and productivity. And, equally important, they offer advice for making sure your own emotions don't get in the way; for knowing when to "just stand there" rather than intervene inappropriately, unproductively, or futilely.
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Average Customer Review:
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
A Different Paradigm for Meetings, 2007-12-05
Most books (and courses) on how to run more effective meetings offer prescriptions based in a paradigm that effective meetings are those in which agenda, participation, information and decision making are as controlled as possible for the sake of efficiency. But participants in such meetings have natural reactions to any sense of being controlled and tend to argue positions or withdraw from discussion and never really commit to act on the outcomes. There is another paradigm for meetings, one of engagement. Marv and Sandra have been among the leading practitioners of this other way of meeting through their work, teaching and writing.
This book lays out the tools, philosophy and behaviors for leading meetings that engage others. Their approach is distinctly different from almost every other meeting book or course that I know (and I have made a pretty comprehensive study of this field). If you already own a book on meeting design and facilitation, you need this one to give you different insights into how this can be done better. If you are looking for your first book on meetings, this is a great place to begin. For me, after 15 years as a student and practitioner of more effective meetings this book will help me continue my learning with each meeting I run.
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
Learning how to DO less and BE more, 2007-10-08
Don't Just Do Something, Stand There: Ten Principles for Leading Meetings That Matter
The title, Don't Just Do Something, Stand There, caught my attention and knocked me off balance. As a member and leader of a number of organizations over the course of 76 years, I have often been referred to as an "activist." The reverse of the title has been almost a mantra of mine. If something needs to be made right, is it not my job to do something? Anything less is a kind of cowardice, and I become an accomplice to the wrong-doing. You would think I would know better, but
the problem seems to be getting worse. The book came my way none too soon.
In college at Penn State, in the 50's, William Werner, a literature professor, said to me in an aside, "There are two reasons to read: one is the confirmation of something you already are familiar with and appreciate; second, is the thrill of new experience." His comments have stayed with me throughout these many years better than the contents of the course in The European Novel that I took with him.
I did find much in the book that I already know and apply, drawing from psychology, group dynamics, organizational development, etc. and presented in a readable, user-friendly manner. My copy is full of notes in the margin of comments like "yes," and of exclamation marks. And for sure, there was also much that was new, again drawing from the same fields, but with practical examples that made the reading alive and here and now, and answered questions that had come to me a moment earlier. The authors have years of hands-on experience throughout the world in their work, and have done their homework, learning from and sharing relevant research in the field.
What surprised me was a third dimension that emerged - a challenge to some of the ways I have come to work, both employed and as a volunteer. Is it too late to teach an old dog new tricks? I hope not. For example, one of the things I loved was in the section, Principle 4 - "Let People Be Responsible." I quote from the anecdote on page 78, "Legitimizing Opposition In A Tense Community Meeting." The issues were so contentious that the sponsor had hired security people to head off potential violence. At the start of the meeting, Lisa, the meeting manager, carefully set up the structure of a number of ground rules. For example, "We are here because we want everyone's ideas, even those you may consider 'wrong' or 'silly.'" During the meeting, one person rose and spoke in a way that attacked the facilitator verbally in an attempt to derail the meeting. The group was flabbergasted and told him to sit down. Lisa now invoked the ground rule she had established in setting up the structure for the meeting. This is how she responded.
"This is what Jim is thinking right now, and you are not required to agree or disagree with him." By using the ground rule to cushion her own shock and to support the dissenter, she defused the attack and the people returned to the task.
The book is full of hands-on examples of this kind that bring you right into room in experiencing the "Ten Principles for Leading Meetings That Matter." Eighteen useful and delightful illustrations by Jock Macneish are sprinkled effectively throughout the text.
Weisbord and Janoff's book, Don't Just Do Something, Stand There, has been, on all counts, a kind of tonic for me. The book has helped me - in this third half of life - to move from wanting to learn more skills of what to "do" - to beginning to experience a "letting go" and to move into allowing a to "be" - a just stand there. In effect to trust, and use the group more fully.
I recommend Don't Just Do Something to anybody who ever said, "Oh, no, not another meeting," and also to the folks like me who look forward to the next one.
Dr. Robert E. Young, Associate Professor, Eastern Virginia Medical School [retired]
676 words
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
An absolute "must-read" for business leaders, human resource personnel, and group managers of all fields., 2007-09-02
Don't Just Do Something, Stand There!: Ten Principles for Leading Meetings That Matter is a practical guide to organizing and leading productive business meetings. Rather than fruitlessly try to change someone's behavior, Don't Just Do Something, Stand There! emphasizes the importance of changing the conditions under which people interact. Packed with techniques for helping people discover common ground, apply dissent to positive and productive use, and promote responsibility through action in oneself and others, Don't Just Do Something, Stand There! is both insightful and inspirational. "Act when you hear people make statements so emotionally charged that they put themselves at risk of being isolated or labeled... Sometimes people jump in to challenge the statement, putting the speaker on the defensive. The temptation is to let the antagonists have it out while everybody watches.... You can do better. What is needed now is neither confrontation nor a search for 'truth'. Rather, you need to head off the split so that people keep working. The best way to do that is to get an informal subgroup for the risk taker... Usually we discover they have a spectrum of frustrations. Speakers see that they are not alone. Frustration is OK. Confrontation is avoided. Everyone has new information on where others stand. The group moves on." An absolute "must-read" for business leaders, human resource personnel, and group managers of all fields.
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
A must have for new and experienced facilitators, 2007-08-14
There are very few people anywhere who know more about how to lead and run groups than Marvin Weisbord and Sandra Janoff. Twenty years ago they designed Future Search Conferences. Since then they have used these conferences to work with businesses, organizations, communities and diverse cultural groups around the world. Even more importantly, they have trained hundreds of other people to lead and run these conferences. Unlike other books that teach you about group techniques for your tool kit, this book talks about the person carrying the tool kit. The authors share what they have learned about the skills you need for group work: how to become conscious and discern the energy and spirit in groups; how to develop a positive attitude; how to create workable boundaries and structures; how to sense changes and transitions; how to handle confusion and chaos; how to respect the self-organizing capacity of groups; how, to determine how, when, and if you should intervene; how to build positive relationships in a group; and how to foster and support emerging visions. It's all in the book-in plain language, descriptive images and meaningful stories. If you lead or run groups, regardless of the process, or even if you are simply a participant in a group and want to help your group become more effective, this book, based upon years of practical experience, will prove invaluable.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
Powerful tool for facilitating meetings, 2007-08-12
I have just stepped into the world of facilitation six months ago after switching from Investmente Banking to Human Resources at my company. My personal interest consists in helping people find insipration in their places of work, and this book was a powerful guide since it starts stating that we don't have to teach anything to anybody; rather, it focuses on describing how to set appropriate conditions so that people can be able to cooperate, one meeting at a time.
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