For this discussion you will refer to the story in Part I, The Depletion of Value in the Burghart textbook (pp. 1-61) and consider yourself part of a team delegated to develop an agenda to conduct an initial meeting with the Executive Director, Allison Smith, and the organization’s leadership team. This initial meeting is to present the program staff’s ideas for what should be included in a strategic plan that would support long-term sustainability.

As a group, brainstorm ideas to prepare for the meeting, develop an agenda for this meeting and the presentation format of the meeting. As you go through this process, you are encouraged to stretch outside of your comfort zone and take on roles that you usually shy away from. If references are provided please do so in APA format.

For ideas on conducting an effective meeting, you may want to review the following resources:

• the Community Tool Box Chapter 16, Section 1: Group Facilitation and Problem Solving
• How to Design an Agenda for an Effective Meeting
• How to Run an Effective Meeting

Once your team has completed the agenda and agreed upon the presentation format, assign one team member to post the agenda as a New Thread in the Module 7: Teamwork Group Discussion Forum.

After the the agenda has been posted by the selected groupmate, each of you will then post your own thread to answer these questions:

• What was your role in the process and what roles did others play?
• What was the most difficult part of the exercise for you?
• What factors appeared to help the process the most?
• What factors made the process difficult?
• How was conflict dealt with?
• How were decisions made?
• How would you describe the leadership that emerged?
• What would your have done differently to make the process more effective or more efficient?
• Was there anything about this exercise that surprised you?