How To Make Office Meetings More Productive
Exit brainstorming; welcome brainwriting
“If you had to identify, in one word, the reason why the human race has not achieved, and never will achieve, its full potential, the word would be: ‘meetings.’” (Dave Barry, humourist)
Most office meetings are time-wasters, yet organisations have not stopped holding them.
Meetings have become rituals, but without meaning. The ostensible purpose of every meeting is to discuss problems and share ideas about how to solve them.
Meetings are designed poorly so that they end without achieving anything. The only decision they make is to hold another meeting.
The fascination with meetings continues unchecked because they provide the illusion of progress.
Two things can make meetings more productive:
- There should be a specific agenda for the meeting, which should be circulated in advance.
- The meeting should have a time frame.
Just because solutions are available doesn’t mean people will embrace them.
The underperformance of brainstorming
Brainstorming is a creativity technique in which a group of people interact to suggest ideas spontaneously in response to a prompt. Stress is typically placed on the volume and variety of ideas, including ideas that may seem outlandish or “off-the-wall”. Ideas are noted down during the activity, but not assessed or critiqued until later. The absence of criticism and assessment is intended to avoid inhibiting participants in their idea production. The term was popularized by advertising executive Alex Faickney Osborn in the classic work Applied Imagination.(Wikipedia)
Good intentions alone are not enough to make meetings fruitful. They often clash with intangibles like office politics and power dynamics.
Brainstorming failed to live up to its initial promise for several reasons:
- Groupthink prevailed in many teams, cancelling out the potential benefits of creative freedom.
- Peer pressure forced employees not to oppose ideas suggested by their powerful colleagues.
- Risk-averseness prevailed, as people did not want to look stupid.
- The louder voices were heard, and the meeker voices, like those of the introverts, were muted.
- In many cases, the number of participants was too large, leading to a cacophony of ideas vying for attention.
- Cross specialisation was ignored.
- People were looking for answers and failed to ask thought-provoking questions.
Brainwriting
Brainwriting seeks to avoid the pitfalls of brainstorming. It tries to make the team meetings more participatory.
People are asked to generate their ideas in writing before the meeting. The ideas are pooled and shared anonymously among the group. Each member evaluates the ideas independently. The team members meet, choose, and refine the best ideas for implementation.
Brainwriting helps all the voices be heard. It brings all the ideas to the table.
Brainwriting taps into the power of collective intelligence because the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.
The quality of leadership
Leaders play a vital role in ensuring the democratic participation of all team members, regardless of their status. They fearlessly and impartially enforce equity and meritocracy.
Adam Grant, in his book Hidden Potential: The Science of Achieving Greater Things, refers to the August 2010 mine collapse in Chile, in which 33 trapped miners were rescued after 69 days. The rescue team leader, Andre Sougarret, welcomed ideas from a wider section of people, including junior people in the mining industry.
A junior engineer named Igor suggested using a tool called a cluster hammer to expand one of the drilled holes to reach the miners. His suggestion was accepted and implemented.
Adam Grant says,
Weak leaders silence voice and shoot the messenger. Strong leaders welcome voice and thank the messenger. Great leaders build systems to amplify voice and elevate the messenger.
Meetings are not bad, per se. They often fail because leaders design and conduct them the wrong way. They fail to utilise the team’s collective intelligence.
Meetings succeed when the meekest voice is heard and the best idea is adopted.
Thanks for reading!
