Establishing Ground Rules

Ideally, the group will have had opportunity to create its own basic procedures known as "ground rules."

The following is a sampling of commonly applied ground rules:

Start and end meetings on time
Do not interrupt the person who is speaking
Respect/honor points of view that differ from your own
Stay on topic
Confidential information will "stay in the room"
All participants are expected and encouraged to contribute
Participants will focus on the meeting (laptops are put away, cell are phones off)
Participants respect the agenda
Participants will be willing to reach consensus on issues