This time of year has the potential to be both wonderful and overwhelming. We have the opportunity to connect, reflect and celebrate as well as attempt to finish our remaining goals, convene our coalitions at least one more time and

When we are engaging coalition partners, workgroups or teams, we usually want them to actively participate in our meetings. Depending upon the meeting, the level of trust, comfortability of the partners and previous experiences in the meetings, participants will engage

One of the signs of a functional and trusting group is that you can openly disagree with one another when you meet together. While this is not always easy and conflict can be unsettling, when you are able to disagree

In coalition meetings, we are great at informing, networking and discussing topics. Depending upon the group, sometimes, we are also great at actively working on projects, making progress toward our most important priorities and even collaborating with others. One of

When we bring diverse partners together to work toward a common cause, one of the benefits of the gathering is to garner multiple perspectives on a topic, issue or project. While this may seem like an easy thing to do,

When we are hosting coalition and workgroup meetings, we want people to come ready to share their perspectives and contribute to the common cause. Although we may not always explicitly say it, we want to create an atmosphere of trust

Whether we realize it or not, we all come to meetings with expectations of others. If we have previously met with a particular group, our past experiences influence our current or future expectations. Even if this is a new meeting

In every meeting, you will have people who are more inclined to talk, share and provide their perspective or feedback and you will have others who listen more and talk less. If we have been meeting with a group for

One of the most common meeting expectations that rarely actually happens is the idea of “start on time; end on time.” Last weekend I provided training on group dynamics and one of the questions was related to what to do

One of the best ways to apply Meeting Guiding Principle #1: Teacher of others and learner from others is to garner participation from as many people as possible. Whether you are leading a small or large group, there will always

If you are in the business of leading coalitions, you are also in the business of leading meetings – lots of meetings! 🙂 Over the past 20 years, I have adopted ome “guiding principles” that I like to apply to

If you have worked in coalitions and partnerships for a month or longer, you know that coalition work is all about relationships. Although there are many principles and practices that will support relationship-building, one of the most powerful is practicing