High Level and Adaptive Meeting Structures

High level view - orb showing a helicopter near high-rise buildings representing high level and adaptive meeting structure

Sometimes, you are not really sure what success looks like in detail but you are confident that you will recognise it when you see it. However, seeing it requires pulling a group of people together to work all of that through.

How do you share an objective and an agenda for such a meeting when you yourself are not entirely sure where it will be going?

The answer is to set the objective at a higher level, and use an adaptive meeting structure to cope with a potentially wide definition of success.

High level and adaptive meeting structures tend to be very useful when the overall intention of the meeting is understood, but where the specific focus and level of ambition within that has not yet been discussed or defined. As such they tend to be progressive questions or activities which have a wide tolerance for different content. An example would be:

  • Define what we need to see to demonstrate that we have been successful
    • Capture our individual goals on sticky notes
    • Group them by means of an affinity diagram and prioritise with sticky dots
    • Identify our top three deliverables from this work
  • Understand the obstacles that need to be overcome to deliver success
    • Map out a fishbone diagram of the things currently holding us back
    • Clarify what is known and not known within that
    • Prioritise items for research and/or action (sticky dots)
  • Agree reasonable next steps to be delivered to the next meeting
    • Clarify the actions to be taken
    • Clarify ownership and timescales
    • Adjust allocations and expectations to ensure full commitment
As you can see the above framework is sufficiently general to apply to almost any situation, and can provide a good platform for making initial progress in agreeing the initial focus for effort.
In developing a high-level meeting structure, it is important to remember two main principles. The first is the idea of a cycle of opening up (divergence) and closing down (convergence):
  • In opening up we spread our awareness to ensure we include everything that is important to what we are seeking to address, and to accept that this will also include a lot of stuff that is not important – but at least we won’t be missing anything.
  • In closing down we agree filters to drop out all of the unimportant bits, and focus down onto what is really needed.
Most good work is a series of these cycles of divergence and convergence – opening up and then closing down – first on our objectives, then on the obstacles, then on solutions, then on actions, …
The second is the idea of generic stepwise models – for example the Objectives > Obstacles > Solutions > Actions of the previous sentence. There are many such models in existence and you may already have your own preferred set. Other examples might be:
  • The GROW model used in coaching: Goals > Reality > Options > Will
  • The PROBLEM model used in problem solving: Profile the issue > identify the Root causes > clarify Options > Balance the solution/plan > Launch the implementation project > Evaluate results > Maintain the outcomes
  • The DECIDE model used in US healthcare: Define the problem > Establish the criteria > Consider all the alternatives > Identify the best alternative > Develop and implement a plan of action > Evaluate and monitor the solution
  • The DMAIC model from six-sigma: Define > Measure > Analyze > Improve > Control
The point about such models is that they provide a brief series of steps which can address problems or opportunities, and within which we can open up and close down as appropriate. Each can provide a reasonable basis for a high level meeting structure if required.
Track your progress to ensure the efficacy of this strategy.