Meeting Optimization Program: A "Workshop in a Box" to Create Meetings That Are Transformational Tools for...

Stemming from an initiative launched at the University of California, San Francisco, School of Medicine's retreat in 2014, a group of 15 senior faculty and administrators convened to explicitly discuss strategies for creating an institutional culture of leadership. The group agreed to focus on improving a foundational skill involved in almost all leadership activities: running effective meetings. Meetings are necessary to advance institutional vision and growth. Moreover, meetings also can be detrimental if not run effectively, leading to lost productivity and meeting fatigue.

A working group developed and disseminated a workshop for learners, faculty, and administrators to create an institutional culture where meetings are interactive and transformational events. The resulting Meeting Optimization Program (MOP) is a 75- to 90-minute workshop that contains the key elements of effective meetings culled from existing literature and resources. MOP includes interactive discussion and a role-play to allow participants to practice effective meeting skills. The toolkit includes a facilitator guideline and a companion checklist of skills and resources.

Working group members cofacilitated workshops for a variety of divisions across the campus. Participants rated the workshop highly for achieving its goal, for its overall effectiveness, and for the general format. Several participants became facilitators in a modified train-the-trainer model. Feedback highlighted the need for another iteration of the workshop focusing on facilitation.

Creating change in complex systems inevitably involves meetings. Using MOP, institutions can empower their members with the tools to have effective meetings.