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Meet - Who needs to attend the planning meetings
As a general rule, planning can be accomplished by a
sub-group within an organization not everyone has to participate. Ideally, the
planning group will be comprised of at least one person from each unit or each
level of organizational work (i.e., staff, board, volunteer). In addition to
representative participation, the planning group should have someone with
authority to make decisions, someone who has responsibility for carrying out
decisions, someone who knows the milieux backwards and forwards (subject matter
expertise), and input from someone who uses or benefits from the service or
product the organization offers.
In addition to diversity of experience, planning teams should
encompass diversity of thinking styles. The world sometimes seems to be sharply
divided into two types of people big picture visionaries, and practical
nuts-and-bolts people. Planning teams require both types. The big picture folks
have difficulty reaching closure and won't be able to convert a vision to an
action plan. Developing step-by-step procedures is what the nuts-and-bolts types
like doing best.
The planning group, at some point along the way, will need to
perform tasks best left to individuals i.e., one person is generally charged
with a writing project. Allowing two or three individuals to take information
from the group, work out an idea on paper, and bring it back to the group for
feedback saves meeting time. For example, when a complex issue surfaces, a
subgroup may want to meet, and bring back their recommendations to the whole
planning group or organization.
The planning group might decide to elicit public
participation for a specific aspect of the planning process. There are a variety
of meeting formats to enhance information exchange with the public: focus
groups, charettes, open house, and workshops. A "talking head" format is the
least effective. Make the information flow as interactive as possible.
Occasionally, either because the organization is small, or
because trust has disintegrated, all members of the organization may need to
take part in the planning process. The answer to the question, "Why are we
meeting?" should help determine who needs to be there. No one who needs to be at
a meeting should be left out, and no one should have to attend an unnecessary
meeting.
