Please consider the following two questions: 1. Are the meetings you attend inefficient? 2. Are the meetings you host inefficient?
Would it surprise you that most people’s answers to those two questions tend to be ‘Yes’ and ‘No’ in that order – maybe not quite so bluntly as that, but certainly that way inclined. And therein lies the nub of the problem.
The reason that so many inefficient meetings exist is because the people running them are actually largely unaware that they ARE inefficient.
Many cultures are not particularly good at giving feedback, particularly to their peers or leadership – they either: (1) Fear it may not be welcomed and that it could have undesirable consequences; or (b) feel uncomfortable in ‘judging’ the other person. Both of these perspectives are valid, but they reflect an outdated view of feedback which stems back to the old ‘command and control’ model of organisations. The command and control style of management did take a judgmental approach to people, and feedback only tended to flow in one direction.
But we all need feedback to operate effectively, particularly when our work involves influencing other people – as our average meeting performance amply demonstrates.
Without feedback, it is easy to deceive ourselves that we are doing better than we actually are, and this robs us of the opportunity to learn and grow efficiently.
However, the feedback we need is not something that is judgmental of us – it is something that simply helps us to understand the outcomes more clearly.
To illustrate this, consider: If person A tells person B that they are disappointed with the outcome of a meeting that person B hosted, what does this mean?
- Person B did a poor job?
- Person A misunderstood what happened?
- Person A’s expectations were too high?
- Something else caused an unexpected issue?
- Any combination of the above and other factors?
The answer in most meetings is usually 5.
The feedback B receives simply alerts them to the fact that the outcomes are not what was desired, it does not (and should not) place the blame for this on B.
However, it does indicate that if B wants to be more successful in delivering productive outcomes from this particular meeting, there may be something that could be improved, and that B may be best placed to initiate that.
In this way, feedback from A to B is simply A communicating to B how they feel about how the meeting has impacted them without any judgement-call about whether that feeling is ‘right’ or ‘wrong’ or ‘who might be at fault’. For feedback to be effective in our post-command-and-control environment, it is vitally important that this perspective on feedback is adopted.
Feedback is simply me saying how I personally feel as a result – something that I am uniquely qualified to assess, which may not be immediately obvious to those around me. It is not about placing responsibility for that feeling on somebody else.
If we are willing to adopt such a perspective on feedback, it opens huge possibilities for improving meeting efficiency, and for transforming organisational productivity:
- We can use feedback to track meeting efficiency, and to highlight opportunities for greater productivity.
- If we can move beyond any implied criticism or defensiveness, we can work together to identify new possibilities.
- We can reconcile the perspectives of the meeting host and the meeting attendee and thereby ensure that inefficient meetings are understood and improved.
- Realistic outcomes are a 30% reduction in meeting time and a 10-20% improvement in management productivity.
So how do you get that feedback?
Meeting reviews are a simple tool which can be used to solicit feedback from a group at the end of a meeting. The steps to doing it are quire simple, and
it can be read about here.
- Ensure that your meeting attendees understand: your perspective on feedback; its potential for the meeting; and your personal desire to receive it
- Schedule five minutes at the end of the meeting to undertake a meeting review, and do it without reacting to anything that is put forward – simply note it down (but clarify if you need to)
- Thank everybody for their feedback at the end, and explain that we will use this to seek to improve the next meeting
- Put up last meeting’s review at the start of the next meeting and discuss briefly what we can (all) do in this meeting to make headway on these – build responsibility for a good meeting across the group
Other tools to assist you track the effectiveness of your meetings can be found in the Assessment section of the Toolchest.
All meeting leaders can use their feedback to identify areas for improvement and to select these from the options in the left hand panel of the ToolChest (which is open to all).
From there, they are presented with a number of simple ideas and tools to address those areas, and practical steps and tools to implement improvements in their approach.
Ensure that whatever you do is in line with your goals for meeting improvement.
