A 10point Empathic Guide to make meetings valuable.

Meetings can be boring- time wasters; most would say.

But they can be daunting too- for the ones conducting them.

A meeting becomes a valuable tool if all related loops (before and after the meet) are closed.

It is a HUGE EFFORT that is truly worth it!

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Consider yourself in any of these situations:

• Your ‘rockstar’ new product idea needs 360 degree buy-in else it may never see the light of day.
• Your brand-new process suggestion must be agreed upon by all stakeholders, else your team continues to suffer with irate customers.
• You want your team to not only accept that huge Q4 target but go for it all out enthusiastically.

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Without Empathy, it would be hard to make these happen.

Empathy: Let’s revisit it briefly.

Empathy is the art of being able to put yourself in someone else’s shoes...the art of subtly focusing on others.

Daniel Goleman’s 3 kinds of empathy when blended right can substantially improve our people skills:

• Understanding other’s perspective. (Cognitive empathy)
• Feeling what they are feeling (emotional empathy)
• Sensing what they are needing from you (empathic concern)

Here goes,

10 action points deployed with Empathy to make meetings valuable.

1.?? Set a clear objective clear: aligned with the larger picture.

?How you are being Empathic: One is naturally motivated to contribute positively as a co-creator vis-à-vis being a passive recipient of information download.

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???? So, a meet objective that is better aligned like this…

• 'Discuss strategies to make company’s proposed new product effective’.

Gets more buy-in vis-a vis something like this…

• ‘Explain proposed new product specifications.’

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2.?? Address one similar group at a time at their convenience

How you are being Empathic: You value every team’s time and inputs. And are therefore investing more of your time on one-on-one team meets for the proposed product discussions.?

• Let’s say you are seeking feedback for a new product, then fix multiple meets at different slots:

The process teams separately for a deep dive on the backend process. Similarly, the marketing for branding, IT for software, Sales for product pitch, Compliance, Legal etc all individually for their inputs.

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3.?? Share an outcome driven tight agenda preferably with timelines.?

How you are being Empathic: Aligning teams to the end objective- gives them clarity, makes them feel empowered. A clear onus to build something beautiful encourages positive contribution. A tight agenda shows respect for their time.

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Example: In a meet with the process team a defined outcome such as

‘Designing a customer friendly-industry relevant process with a reasonable TAT’- by providing customers with

• Multiple payment options
• Quick Cancellation and Refund
• Fastest delivery or activation
• Multiple updates at each step of processing.

…brings immense clarity and alignment to the meet.

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4.?? Be mindful of hierarchy:?

How you are being Empathic: Showing respect for peer’s/superior’s authority will make him feel valued. He will mostly reciprocate by assigning his most helpful team members to the meet who likely will contribute positively.?

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• Before calling team members with different reporting authority always discuss with their boss first.?
• Invite the reporting authority first. Then invite the team members he recommends.?
• If the group invited is a mix of peers, juniors and seniors, keep the seating and the treatment accordingly.?
• Make sure your peers and bosses are sitting right next to you. Credit them often and invite them to speak briefly to set the tone for their teams.

?5.?? Prepare thoroughly.?

How you are being Empathic: Being ready with and sharing all relevant information simplifies decision making for the concerned team members.

Additionally, it educates them on the overall perspective. You show them that you value them enough to research and share macro data with them. It saves them time. It also orients them positively for the stretch/change in input that you are asking them to contribute.

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• Even if you are simply having a monthly team meeting to discuss numbers, go very well prepared.?
• Have your data ready on market developments, competitor data for that month, % MOM numbers (till date/team member wise) and so on. Keep strategic direction related points ready so that you can throw them open for discussion.
• In case of the earlier example, for a meet with the process team about a proposed new product be thorough with competitor processes, new trends, likely pitfalls and the solid basis of the USP that you are proposing?

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6.?? Engage your audience completely.?

How you are being Empathic: You understand that meets may get boring for many and hence are making that effort to keep them interested. You manage your ego by not settling for quiet agreement which is the easiest but least fruitful path.

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• Avoid monotonous presentations/talks.

Remember our deeply immersive social media scrolling has shortened our attention span.?

• If you must, do use a few impactful slides. ??

But keep your engagement jargon free and conversational styled.

• Use a white board- visual representation of what you are trying to communicate. Give credit to the ones involved in the original ideation.
• ?Don’t settle for quiet resigned agreements. Sometimes people who like you will keep agreeing to make you look good. Appreciate that but don’t get carried away.
• ?Keep digging. Do short bursts of brainstorming sessions. Ask questions, take feedback, appreciate contributions – keep them involved.?
• Most importantly give the meeting your undivided attention, don’t scroll the phone or answer calls. Expect the same from others as far as possible.

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?7.?? Decipher the power equations:?

How you are being Empathic: You recognize that power plays are an unavoidable part of social setups. Hence certain team members will always have a considerable influence on others. Trying to work mindfully with this fact makes everyone’s job easier and less complicated.?

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In group setting especially in organizations, power play and Machiavelli moves are something that no one can avoid.?

So, invest time investigating the underlying power equations:

• ?Who is a positive influencer, his motivations?
• Who is a negative influencer, his needs?
• Who is likely to resist? Who is likely to support you?
• Who could easily derail the whole project?

Deciphering these elements in advance is much better than doing damage control later.?

• If and when you know which elements could make this exercise, go sideways, try to meet them beforehand and get their buy in.
• ?If you can’t, then be watchful of their cues and try to steer them positively using correct maneuvers.
• ?Try and balance the power equation by also inviting a few positive influencers to the meet.

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8.?? Maintain a positive tone throughout.?

How you are being Empathic: appealing to the positive side of your teammates, believing in their best potentials, recognizing their efforts is a big boost to their morale.

Visualize this: You put people in a room and then start ranting about everything going wrong with the topic in question.

?What will you get?

?A set of defensive people who will immediately mirror those angry, contemptuous emotions and start a blame-game show. They will either individually or collectively move into a fight mode.

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• To avoid this, maintain an upbeat tone. Radiate positivity and enthusiasm and everyone in the meet will take the cue.
• This emotion will take over, creativity will flow, and new ideas will emerge.
• There is correlation between optimism and cognition. The better you feel, the better you can think.
• Create an environment where people can work together effectively and positively.

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9.?? Assign mini task forces for each actionable agreed upon. ??

How you are being Empathic: Showing faith, giving support, assigning responsibility, accountability and corresponding authority to team members is motivating and empowering.

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• Assign an F.P.R (First person responsible) for each agreed upon actionable. If the meet consists of a good number of people chasing fewer actionable points, then assign each point to small FPR mini task groups.
• ?Declare your 100% support so that the FPR team can see through the action point to its logical conclusion.

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10.?????Record meeting actionable, close the feedback loop, highlight outperformers.?

How you are being Empathic: When you follow-up, extend support to FPR teams, they not only feel cared for, they also understand that the job assigned truly matters. Additionally highlighting their contribution makes them feel valued and inspires them to do more.?

• As soon as the meet is over, send out a detailed mail with actionable discussed and F.P.Rs keeping all team owners in the loop.
• Follow up regularly with the F.P.Rs and extend support if they are stuck somewhere.
• Drop or fine tune action points that become unfeasible after some time.
• Reassign actionable if the current F.P.R is unable to work on it- with the team owner in the loop.
• Highlight noteworthy progress by F.P.R teams to their bosses or in your broadcast group.
• This acknowledgement of their commitment may help them in their performance assessment.

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Apply this 10-point guide to meetings with empathy/foresight, to make them successful and productive, something that might also enhance relationships at work.

Please feel free to add some more points in case I have missed any. #empathy #meetings # productivity

References:

Working with emotional intelligence – Daniel Goleman

Emotional Intelligence- Empathy – Harvard Business Review

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