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ManagerZine Archive Favorite
5. Why Meetings Fail
Have you ever considered how much of your working life is spent in meetings?
We know many managers who attend back-to-back meetings almost every day.
The other part of their working life involves answering emails. What a career,
eh?
So, meetings had better be productive, efficient and effective. When you think
about it, they are the most fundamental form of work. Decisions are made;
people are informed; ideas are exchanged; creativity is released; honors are
bestowed; warnings are issued. Corporate culture (norms and values) is
communicated. Camaraderie is practiced. The question being begged is: If
meetings are so important, why aren’t more of them good?
Why do meetings fail? Here’s a sampler of reasons.
The objective isn’t 100% clear. What are we walking out with? What’s going
to happen? How do we contribute? (The sub-text here is: Is this objective really
worthy of a meeting? Will a meeting add value?)
The meeting format is group “discussion”, regardless of the objective. One
method for all outcomes.
No one is steering the process. Concepts and ideas come and go. The
discussion drifts away. People start side conversations. Someone dominates.
Agenda items are left unattended. Agenda?
The boss conducts the meeting when someone else should. That introduces
dynamics about what is said, when and by whom.
Pre-meeting preparation is non-existent. People just show up. “I was told to
be here at 2:00.”
The objective is unattainable, given the time allotted. For instance, getting
20 people to come to consensus on any topic in an hour is, to say the least,
naïve.
How to improve meeting effectiveness?
Five ideas:
Be meeting mindful. Think, then do.
How do you control discussions once you’ve asked
for opinions?
From our far-flung readers
“Meetings I’ve attended lately seem to get bogged
down. We’ll talk about something like designing a
website, and everyone has an opinion. Some of the
opinions are quite interesting; a lot of them are off the
wall. Talk goes around and around. How can I get a
grip on having better discussions when we do have
discussions in meetings?”
If you think about it, most discussions in meetings revolve around eventually
making some type of decision. For example, we need a new website. What
should be in it? How should we build it? In discussions, ideas are offered in the
form of opinions, merged with others and, eventually, certain idea
combinations are adopted as decisions.
When people offer opinions, the tendency is to focus on the idea itself. “We
can build our own website. Why do we need consultants?” Here’s a tip: As a
meeting leader or participant, it is often useful to ask about the consequences
of ideas when they are offered. Probe to extend the idea into the future. What
will the impact be? How will that idea affect our goals? What will be the
upsides and downsides? The rhythm of the discussion shifts from idea-idea-
idea-idea to idea-consequences-idea-consequences. Or idea-idea-idea-
consequences.
The point: If you ask people to support an opinion by stating what the
consequences will be, you will start to have a more structured discussion.
When you think about it, the process of making a decision is really a weighing
of consequences, pro and con. Bring those up to the surface.
How-to ideas:
Ask people to state “what will happen if we do that?” Or “what’s the result of that
idea?” after they offer an opinion.
As a follow-up, ask, “How do you know that?” or “How can you be sure?”
Look for facts and data in the response.
Keep track of opinions and consequences on a flip chart. The old + and -, two-
column format still works.
Encourage other people to explore the validity of consequences being
suggested.
In discussing consequences, different or new criteria for making the decision
may emerge that are different from what you might have established upfront.
“We never thought of that.” Let it happen and listen.
© 2006 Singularity Group
5. Why Meetings Fail
Have you ever considered how much of your working life is spent in meetings?
We know many managers who attend back-to-back meetings almost every day.
The other part of their working life involves answering emails. What a career,
eh?
So, meetings had better be productive, efficient and effective. When you think
about it, they are the most fundamental form of work. Decisions are made;
people are informed; ideas are exchanged; creativity is released; honors are
bestowed; warnings are issued. Corporate culture (norms and values) is
communicated. Camaraderie is practiced. The question being begged is: If
meetings are so important, why aren’t more of them good?
Why do meetings fail? Here’s a sampler of reasons.
The objective isn’t 100% clear. What are we walking out with? What’s going
to happen? How do we contribute? (The sub-text here is: Is this objective really
worthy of a meeting? Will a meeting add value?)
The meeting format is group “discussion”, regardless of the objective. One
method for all outcomes.
No one is steering the process. Concepts and ideas come and go. The
discussion drifts away. People start side conversations. Someone dominates.
Agenda items are left unattended. Agenda?
The boss conducts the meeting when someone else should. That introduces
dynamics about what is said, when and by whom.
Pre-meeting preparation is non-existent. People just show up. “I was told to
be here at 2:00.”
The objective is unattainable, given the time allotted. For instance, getting
20 people to come to consensus on any topic in an hour is, to say the least,
naïve.
How to improve meeting effectiveness?
Five ideas:
- The objective should be crystalline and achievable. “Decide whether
or not to build a new website.” “Generate five new ideas we can show
the client.” “Create logical choices for a qualified lead to pursue.”
Note these examples are measurable. This should be written in stone
over your conference table: A clear objective will cover a host of
other meeting foibles.
- Methods match the outcome. Is the objective to communicate or
announce important information? Consider a short presentation with a
q & a and follow-up documentation. Is the objective to generate ideas
or seek input on how people feel about something? Then hold a
brainstorming meeting and call it that. Rules of brainstorming apply.
Divergent thinking rules. Need to make some decisions? Then the
process is for people to offer alternatives, discuss the pros and cons
and nominate the best option. Convergent thinking rules. Need rock-
solid consensus? Continually poll people’s opinions about options
until the best choice emerges. Need to break a deadlock? Have a
debate. Point, counterpoint, reply. In our experience, it is helpful to
label what method you are going to use in your meeting. One
consultant we know labeled creative, idea generating meetings,
“Green” meetings and convergent decision making meetings “Red”
meetings. Why not?
- Mind the process. Someone moderately skilled in facilitation should
be designated meeting leader. Keeping notes on a flipchart are
helpful as is, obviously, an agenda. The leader should review the
process of how the meeting will be conducted- the structure- before
actually conducting it. “First we’re going to generate ideas, then we’re
going to select the most interesting ones...” The leader has to enforce
the meeting rules, keep people on track and an eye on meeting the
objective. That may mean focusing discussion, asking people to get
back on the agenda and otherwise being a taskmaster. This does take
some skill and diplomacy. But, someone <<has>> to do it.
- Decide what the boss’ role should be. Managers are great at
positioning problems, presenting criteria for decisions or solutions at
the beginning of meetings. However, they might cut off discussion
prematurely if they’ve heard enough when they lead a discussion.
Managers: Think role. Do you even have to be there?
- Give pre-meeting assignments. Imagine sitting in a conference room
and being asked to make a decision of lasting import without having
given much thought to the issue. An insight: it is harder to have an
efficient meeting if you start from scratch, cold, with a clean sheet of
paper. Ask people to come prepared with ideas, decisions, points of
view and then share them in an orderly way. The meeting will be
more efficient. (It is possible to have what are called “Clean Sheets”
meetings to generate ideas, etc., without homework, but the quid pro
quo is that the process takes much, much, much longer.)
Be meeting mindful. Think, then do.
How do you control discussions once you’ve asked
for opinions?
From our far-flung readers
“Meetings I’ve attended lately seem to get bogged
down. We’ll talk about something like designing a
website, and everyone has an opinion. Some of the
opinions are quite interesting; a lot of them are off the
wall. Talk goes around and around. How can I get a
grip on having better discussions when we do have
discussions in meetings?”
If you think about it, most discussions in meetings revolve around eventually
making some type of decision. For example, we need a new website. What
should be in it? How should we build it? In discussions, ideas are offered in the
form of opinions, merged with others and, eventually, certain idea
combinations are adopted as decisions.
When people offer opinions, the tendency is to focus on the idea itself. “We
can build our own website. Why do we need consultants?” Here’s a tip: As a
meeting leader or participant, it is often useful to ask about the consequences
of ideas when they are offered. Probe to extend the idea into the future. What
will the impact be? How will that idea affect our goals? What will be the
upsides and downsides? The rhythm of the discussion shifts from idea-idea-
idea-idea to idea-consequences-idea-consequences. Or idea-idea-idea-
consequences.
The point: If you ask people to support an opinion by stating what the
consequences will be, you will start to have a more structured discussion.
When you think about it, the process of making a decision is really a weighing
of consequences, pro and con. Bring those up to the surface.
How-to ideas:
Ask people to state “what will happen if we do that?” Or “what’s the result of that
idea?” after they offer an opinion.
As a follow-up, ask, “How do you know that?” or “How can you be sure?”
Look for facts and data in the response.
Keep track of opinions and consequences on a flip chart. The old + and -, two-
column format still works.
Encourage other people to explore the validity of consequences being
suggested.
In discussing consequences, different or new criteria for making the decision
may emerge that are different from what you might have established upfront.
“We never thought of that.” Let it happen and listen.
© 2006 Singularity Group
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Well-Spoken
"The voyage of
discovery is not
looking for new
landscapes, but
looking with new
eyes."
Anonymous
"The key to successful
leadership today is
influence, not
authority."
Anonymous
"The voyage of
discovery is not
looking for new
landscapes, but
looking with new
eyes."
Anonymous
"The key to successful
leadership today is
influence, not
authority."
Anonymous