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

Introduction: 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.

Methods: 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.

Results: 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.

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