The Power of Collaborative Meetings

Ouishare

Ineffective meetings are a great factor of frustration at work. “Was that meeting really necessary?”,“Why was this meetings called? So that we’re told what to do?”, “I never say what I really think during team meetings”, “I never find the space to speak up” “We keep meeting and meeting, but we discuss the same every time”.

These are some common thoughts team members have regarding their meetings at work. It’s not only a lost opportunity to foster productive work; meetings are the occasions when teams get together. Shouldn’t that be the most fruitful time of all?

Meetings are the ideal moment to induce a collaborative practice in the organisation, everyone is in a meeting at one point or another.

There are factors like meeting preparation that are key to the success of a meeting: the invitation (who should really attend this meeting?), the agenda (send it in advance and leave space for contribution, etc). The next relevant element is the meeting itself.

How do we build a container, a room for expression and listening to set the ground for collaboration?

Collaborative meetings

This is a format that — if done properly — enables this container. It consists of the following steps:

- Check-in: each participant answers a given question very briefly. Like “How are you today?” “What is the intention you come to this meeting with?”. The goal is to give a chance for everyone to participate in the beginning and include them in the meeting. For more experienced teams, it’s great to open with a check-in that allows members to express whatever that is necessary for them in order to be fully present during the meeting.

- Roles distribution: roles are rotative in the team

• Host
• Documenter
• Timekeeper
• Additional ones: carer, ego-checker

- Input round: each participant gives her input on the topic or question in place. One person after the other (ideal setting: to sit in circle, if no table in the middle, much better). The key here is that you go in order in the circle. You only talk when it’s your turn.

The goal is to give input, not to react or give feedback on what other participants have previously said. This is not a dialogue, it’s an input round.

- Feedback round: time to give feedback and build on others’ ideas, this can be done in circle order or to whoever would like to contribute.

- Check-out: leaving the meeting by answering a question, for example “What did you learn?” “What element of the meeting added the most value to you?” etc. It’s again a space to bring in your personal side, how you feel, for example.

The key of it working so well lies in its simplicity and power to completely change the dynamic of how the group usually interacts.

I was introduced to this practice a couple of years ago by my colleagues Luis and Ana. Since then I haven’t stopped using it both for our internal organisation in Ouishare and in our workshops. This simple experience provides participants with a lot of insights about how they interact with others and how they could improve their skills.

Hereunder are some of the usual reactions during the collaborative meetings workshops. I’m always fascinated by them because they let you see very clearly from what challenging working culture we come from:

• Some participants complain that they cannot react, they would find it more valuable if they could jump into feedback right away.
• The “host” role is very often misunderstood as that of a moderator, workshop facilitator or others. (A host holds the space for others to participate, she might encourage participation, but she’s not a moderator.)
• The check-in usually turns into a round of “I’m doing well” that adds no value to the space that we intend to create.
• Some participants say they don’t have time to do check in & outs or even sometimes do a whole input round (this is short-term thinking.)

What are the effects that such a format usually provokes?

• It makes sure everyone is heard and fosters listening.
• It makes it more likely that everyone’s input is included. For me, as a shy person, this format really helped me start participating in a collective where people had known each other for a long time and on topics they had a lot of expertise on.
• It gives you time to reflect on your emotions, to be aware of how you feel, because you are not allowed to jump in the conversation when you hear something that triggers you.
• During the input round, the different aspects of the topic in question usually evolve a lot with everyone’s perspectives. In just one round it’s possible to get much further, needing less discussion in the end.
• Thanks to this rich input, the feedback round is done with much more substance and therefore, is much more efficace towards the goal that is set for the meeting.
• By engaging a few minutes to do check-in, check-outs and respect everyone’s turn, you win a lot in the long-term. More trust, more collaboration, more input from everyone.

The final element to make it work is your organisation’s culture. If trust is broken, it’s not the meetings that are going to save it all, but it’s a practice that can help implement the first collaborative practices in your organisation and allow everyone to speak up, listen and foster collaboration-oriented practices.

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