Meeting design plays a big part in meeting effectiveness, but the biggest factor tends to be participant behaviours – in fact 2/3 of meeting ineffectiveness is caused in the following ways:
Each of these things has implications, not only for the efficiency of the meeting itself, but also the implications of that meeting in terms of outcomes and culture. Good meetings lead to clarity and enthusiasm, whereas the above behaviours are regularly a source of confusion and demotivation.
Meeting Effectiveness requires that we each take personal responsibility for meeting participation. We own our own part in maximising the positive impact of meetings on both progress, and on the mental well-being of our colleagues. The points below summarise six steps we can all take to make meetings more effective – click on each heading to understand more.
Assemble - ready yourself to be present at your best
You have probably heard the phrase ‘bring your “A game”‘. It reflects the idea that we can turn up in different states of preparedness and intention. And that this affects meeting participation and the outcomes.
Give yourself space
Showing up as the best version of yourself takes time and focus. This is not really possible when you are rushing from one thing to another with a lot on your mind. It is therefore essential that we make time before the meeting to complete any preparation required. We are not talking here about the actions. Pre-reading, and pre-work that should be done well before the meeting. See Arriving at Your Virtual Meeting. This is about taking a few minutes immediately before the meeting to marshal and manage your thoughts and emotions. It is about readying yourself to engage 100% with the opportunities to add value that the meeting presents.
Take a good look inside
Part of this readiness involves what is known as ‘monitoring your inner condition‘. It is about reflecting on which version of ‘you’ (see the diagram above) you are bringing to the meeting? When we are under pressure, it is all too easy to lapse into a cynical, judgmental reaction to what is said and seen. But this slows everything down and creates a barrier to the engagement, creativity and diversity of others. However, all too often we are not fully aware that we are in this condition. And because of this we do not recognise the impact we are having on the meeting participation of others.
Centre yourself
A couple of minutes of quiet time enables us to take our attention inside of ourselves. It helps us to quell the pressures (if only for a short while) and deliberately decide to respond with curiosity and compassion. It gives us the space to centre ourselves – to reconnect with our identity in all that is going on around us. Some people use the time for prayer – to give them the perspective and humility they are seeking. But you can use whatever works for you.
Align - commit to an agreed intent and approach
The product of an effective meeting leaves the room in the insights, understanding, attitudes and commitments of the people who attended it. The paperwork only serves as a record and reminder to support that (see Scale of Commitment). Meetings which have no impact on what people think, do, or feel have very limited benefit. It is therefore really important that you can see the value of the meeting in terms of its potential to influence what people think, do, or feel. And that you are able to recognise your meeting participation as either a contributor or a recipient (or both) within that.
Be clear on your purpose
The objectives and agenda of the meeting should enable you to see that potential in advance of the meeting. Sometimes this is not possible – either because you cannot see the value, or because they are not communicated. In either case it is important that you take responsibility to address this with the organiser. And as a result of your discussions, either to absent yourself, or to understand how best to prepare and be present. The effectiveness of a meeting depends on a clear picture of the intended outcomes. And having participants who are best prepared to deliver them.
Recognise the potential
When the objectives and the agenda are clear, take time at the start of the meeting to remind yourself of what you can best do to help deliver them. Take time also to broaden your thinking on their potential and how that might impact you: Your values; your work; the product/service; the team; their attitudes and development; the organisation; the community; the vision; and beyond.
Make the value connections that will more fully engage you in the discussions, This will enable you to maximise the opportunities for the outcomes to add value to the things you care about. Also, determine that you meeting participation will be fully supportive of being the best that you can be, in enabling the meeting to be the best that it can be.
Aid - use input to support progress in each other
It is not always possible to understand the things that are most likely to help us grow when we first encounter them. It is often the need for change that makes the steps to change seem alien. This is an increasingly prevalent reality in our VUCA World and the flexibility it requires of our thoughts and attitudes.
Accept the need to learn and adapt
But, as Einstein observed: The day we stop learning is the day we start dying. We cannot afford to stay the same. If we try to, whatever role we have will be taken by someone more able to adapt it to its evolving purpose and opportunities. The World is now changing so fast we need to bring all of ourselves to keep up with it.
Within meeting participation, this means that we are increasingly likely to encounter new ways of doing things. Mechanisms of conversation and decision making which engage more than just single voices heard around a table. We will regularly find ourselves in situations where our movements, our gestures, our actions all contribute. We will experience a highly participative, multi-channel explorations of possibilities and optimising conclusions. Whether that is by means of a simple affinity diagram, or something newer or more advanced.
Remain open
Engaging fully in what these mechanisms require of us may initially seem alien to us. Perhaps more like what we remember as play than what we have come to know as work. But play often accesses more of who we are in ways that are easier to reconcile with those around us. Our responsibility is to maintain a fully open attitude (curious, compassionate, and even courageous at times) in ourselves. This will enable us to also encourage the same in others. As a result, we will discover value and insight at a greater rate than we previously thought possible.
Whatever mechanisms are adopted, traditional or new, keep open. And wherever possible use your meeting participation to support progress in the meeting and in each other.
Attend - nurture your curiosity and actively listen
Attend is not intended in the sense of simply turning up, but more in the sense of listening and ‘paying attention’.
Actively work at listening
Listening is a skill, and as such there is far more to it than simply ‘hearing’. It is about processing how all of our senses (physical and emotional) are responding to what we are hearing. What is being said, how it is being said, and what is happening around it. And it is about the engagement of our thoughts, emotions, creativity, and spirit in the processing of those senses. At its best, it is an intense work which drives insight and ideas at an amazing rate.
Otto Scharmer, the author of the diagram above, describes four levels of such ‘paying attention’ (see the table on the right).
Levels of attention
It should be noted that the higher order choices do not commit the listener to actually adopt what they are hearing. However, they do place the listener in a far better position to understand the potential and implications of what is being ‘said’. And this helps in arriving at a good conclusion. The result of this can be seen in the tendency of the listener to ask questions which explore potential and new insight. Whereas listening at lower levels tends to result more in observations, objections or alternatives (even if some of these are voiced as questions).
Act - determine to do! commit and diarise actions
40% of meeting is spent simply in order to progress actions which might otherwise be overlooked or delayed. This is potentially the greatest source of meeting inefficiency, but is so endemic that it is almost seen as inevitable. In fact meetings which do this well tend to be seen as a ‘good thing’ (even if the problem still persists afterward).
Avoiding the common deception
The problem with this mindset is that it actually encourages deception. People know that the actions are likely to be under-resourced and overrun. However, they collude in a false hope in order to defer that problem and move on to more immediate issues. Despite the immediate issues often being the evidence of flawed actions from previous meetings.
To illustrate this behaviour, one consulting organisation undertook a survey of failed and delayed projects. It asked the following question of each team member: Back when you defined this plan, if you took the time to pause and think about it, how many of you would have bet $500 of your own money on its success? The answer was none of them.
Take a personal perspective
The $500 bet is a good discipline for us all to apply to the actions we take on. Thinking we have our own money riding on it causes us to take responsibility at a deeper level. As a result, we ensure it is planned in to our schedules, and put the checks in place to ensure it is delivered. If (for whatever reasons) we are not willing to bet, we should not be willing to commit. And if the meeting at least is aware of the problem it can take time to understand the reasoning. Whether that be resourcing, tools, skills, conflict, whatever. And to plan to do something about it.
| “When we stop learning we start dying.“
Albert Einstein
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Assess - how things were done and your part in that
No meeting is perfect. No meeting participation lives up to its full potential. And the acceptance of these basic truths is key to having a healthy, enjoyable and fulfilling learning experience.
See opportunity, not blame
There is always something we can do better. It is important that we appreciate that this fact is not a judgement or evaluation of us as inferior. Nor is it a demand or expectation which obliges us to be different. It is the recognition that we (and our events) still have untapped potential which we can access when we feel it is right to do so. And to do so at a time and place of our own choosing. This last point is crucial. We are good people. We have value that is beyond what we do and is not conditional on our choices. In the right circumstances we will choose to learn because we are all made that way. But it is our choice.
Seek self-confident self-direction
If we fail to fully appreciate that it is the individual’s choice, we will find it difficult to be honest about the potential that remains. We will fear that simply recognising its existence will obligate us to act upon it. As a result we will not be fully objective in identifying further potential with our meeting participation. And so, learning will cease to be a choice for us. Our identity will become caught up in a ‘standard’ which we maintain through denying the potential to move beyond it.
When we can voice possibilities without feeling them as an accountability, then we will have become true learners. But we get there by ensuring we identify the possibilities and working through the personal stuff. Not by denying the possibilities in order to avoid the personal stuff.
Healthy feedback
No matter how good the meeting was (and that good should definitely be celebrated) a good assessment should always identify things that COULD be improved, if only to provide the option.
If feedback tools are available, use them to provide an objective honest picture of how things went. Track this against your initial expectation of value. But do so from a perspective that you (and other things) were part of that, not from the perspective of evaluating another person. We are all part of meeting participation. And if the feedback reflects a value gap, ensure you leave a comment which helps the recipient. Help them to understand the potential for you that is as yet untapped. But fully accept that it is not their responsibility to do anything about it. See the guide on providing and receiving feedback.
Adopting Best Practice as a Participant