Talking to a colleague from a completely different field, I noticed how challenging it is to set up and follow up for an efficient meeting. Researching the topic, you can find many articles that address the various obvious steps to meeting planning, such as setting an agenda, having key stakeholders invited, putting together a constructive environment and sharing clear outcomes. But the truth of the matter is that everyone knows that even by following those very useful steps, meetings can lead to dry results. So what are some tips and tricks that one could apply to get closer to ensuring a ceremonious meeting, where the end of the meeting means the beginning of greater things!?, where all attendees feel like players and not spectators!?
The equilibrium of the cosmos
While there exists a number of purposes that go along with a number of various types of meetings, regardless of their objectives and definition, all meetings ought to lead to productive outcomes so as to clarify perspectives on the tasks at hand. Meetings when well conducted bring a breath of fresh air to fuel the status of the project at stake. The theory by which our universe came about to be 12 billion years ago, made our whole existence and the physical laws of it possible due to an explosion, making the end of an era lead to the beginning of a new one. That type of explosion is to be aimed at with every meeting, leading to that culminating moment where new ideas and agreements lead to a refined understanding of the team effort to be achieved. The “Bang!” is thus associated to the moment where all fundamental particles go their way, understanding exactly the next steps of their contribution to the cosmos.
In theory, this all sounds very exciting and motivating, but how exactly do we lead entire team meetings made up of various profiles and agendas, made up of various energy levels, with some stars shining with a constant light and others flickering uncertainly? The client side, partnering contributors, freelancing members, and respected expert colleagues need to culminate to that aha! moment, otherwise referred here as the “I-now-understand-what-I-am-doing-here-and-what-my-cosmic-mission-is-!” and it is your meeting that can lead to that. How can you proceed? Here are three short meeting guiding principles, which have been tested and proven successful. These principles are not miraculous, but they do do the trick in particular situations and though not applicable in every context, they can help reflect on the guiding principles of your next meeting. Feel free to add your own and share!
The gravitational attraction
Of course, a meeting invite sets the tone for a meeting, but it can also do so many other things… One of the things I like to include in a meeting invite is the guiding principle of the meeting in question. Guiding principles can help structure your meeting and introduce another layer of transparency. Hidden agendas don’t help meetings. Consider your guiding principle as the gravitational attraction that holds together a system of stars. A team needs to know what brought them together in the first place and why they were carefully selected to be a part of the reunion. There is nothing worse then to attend a meeting where your contribution is not really clear and where you sit around for hours just to fill in an otherwise empty seat. A fair invitation is one where your time has been considered, where the attendees list hints towards the role that you will be playing and where the guiding principle explicitly lays out everyone’s expected level of involvement in the conversations that will follow. Here are some examples of guiding principles, I have used in the past:
1. On keeping with the bigger picture while innovating
Guiding Principle: “Please build on the already existing material and share insights. X has put a lot of thought into this and we want to assist X to bring this further for the team’s benefit.”
Goal: Making sure that we do not go on tangents; avoiding the reconsideration of foundational elements already decided upon; including a note on the hard work of colleagues.
Context: When innovating, the tendency is often to constantly doubt of the path that has been decided upon. Leading a meeting should always mean that you are the first believer in the strength of the team around you and this can sometimes include, having to remind the same individuals that have agreed on a path why that path was chosen in the first place so that you can help everyone stick to the bigger picture.
2. On guiding conversations among respected experts
Guiding Principle: “Come prepared; every concern and issue should be accompanied by suggested solutions and recommendations. We are the experts!”
Goal: Defining the level of preparation needed to be an active participant to the meeting; capitalizing on the group’s expertise; encouraging ongoing dialogue amongst different experts.
Context: When dealing with experts that are otherwise used to working in silos, the solutions to particular roadblocks benefit from public requests for feedback. This way, the expertise of A can help with the area of expertise of B, which expertise can in turn be presented to A, B and C who might together get to a better understanding of the roadblock and present it from another angle where A, B, C and D can work together on a solution.
3. On building new collaborations in a non-prescriptive fashion
Guiding Principle: “This is an informal meeting. Let’s just see where we stand in terms of X and take it from there to identify the next steps.”
Goal: Setting a casual tone for more at ease conversations; inviting everyone to guide the direction of the exchange; hinting at the need to identify the next milestones together.
Context: When having various parties collaborate for the first time, it is often important to give some room for exploration so that everyone around the table feels at ease to forge the new collaboration, as they get to know each other. Creating a sense of ownership for the direction that the conversation is taking is key to getting everyone involved. Avoiding to dictate the type of relationships and the strength of the relationships will make those even stronger.
Following the big “Bang!”
The end of a meeting should mean the beginning of greater things and the conclusion of it is crucial. The end of a meeting, its big “Bang!” should be the culminating moment where every invited player understands the team’s next steps and their individual action items. Thus, there should be an announcement of action items that emerges from the discussion. Going over the action items should clarify and summarize the discussions and should have every party’s head nodding in approbation and satisfaction. And finally, promising following up e-mails or meeting notes to keep trace of agreements and decisions should become number one priority of the day.
So next time you get invited to a meeting and your role, purpose and overall cosmic contribution is unclear, feel free to ask about it. As David Grady would say try not to suffer from MAS, the Mindless Accept Syndrome: “an involuntary reflex in which a person accepts a meeting invitation without even thinking why”, which is known to be a common illness among office workers. Whether you are calling a meeting or being called into a meeting, the MAS is definitely something you would want to be considerate about. Every one of us wants to shine and feel purposeful within the vast universal vacuum. And in those otherwise dark, desolate office-galaxies, stars have the potential of nesting together to collaborate on great initiatives via ceremonious meetings, creating communal sources of productive, elegant light, culminating to the Big Bang where every star goes its way, methodical, and clearheaded ready to contribute to life and to the beginning of greater things.
Conceive the Conceivable Unconceivable 