meetings {why}

There’s a story about a group of American automobile executives who visited Japan to observe a Japanese assembly line.

?They noticed that the doors were attached to the vehicles in the same way as they did in America, but there was a difference. In the US, a worker would tap the edges of the door with a rubber mallet to ensure a perfect fit, but this job was absent in Japan.

?Perplexed, the American executives inquired about the step where the door's fitting was checked.

?To their surprise, the Japanese guide smiled and confessed

"We make sure it fits when we design it."

?In the Japanese plant, they didn't investigate the issue or gather data to find the best solution - they engineered the desired outcome from the start. If they failed to achieve the intended result, they realized it was because of a decision they made at the beginning of the process.

?The story is narrated by Simon Sinek in his book Start With Why.

Finding {why}

?With meetings, much like with assembly lines, it’s crucial to first identify the {why} – its purpose.

• ?We almost always know the topic of the meeting. Be it the budget, a new project, handling a difficult situation and so on.
• ?We are less intentional about the desired outcome. Are we meeting to discuss? Or to brainstorm? Or to decide?
• And importantly, how do we plan to get there? For example, if we are aiming for a decision who will make it? What process will we follow?

?These three elements {topic, desired outcome, process} make up the {why} of the meeting – its purpose. ?

?But it’s not enough that the meeting leader knows the {why}. Everyone involved must.?

Communicating {why}

?Communication may sound trivial but it’s not.

?There is a behavioral effect called the curse of knowledge. It's the idea that when you know something, it's hard to imagine what it’s like not to know that thing. It essentially means that we assume people know and think the same things we do.

?We may think the purpose of a meeting is to get a firm grasp on what the core issue of a problem is, but someone else might think the purpose is to evaluate solutions, and another to brainstorm ideas.

?If the purpose of the meeting is not understood by everyone, progress is slow and frustrating.

?The solution? Be explicit when communicating the {why} of the meeting.

Framing {why}

?Pro-tip: It helps framing the meeting {why} as questions to be answered instead of statements. For example, instead of “office space reallocation,” try “Under what conditions should we reallocate office space?”. This way you and the participants tend to engage in much deeper thought because answering a question is a more demanding cognitive activity.

?The question format also helps to facilitate the conversation around these questions.

?And it helps to know when to end the meeting - when the questions have been answered in a compelling way.

Take-aways for meetings {why}

?To escape having meetings with fluid borders, no clear purpose, digressions in discussion, lack of results, wasted time, frustration, lack of productivity, then:

?Start with {why}. Find the complete {why}.

?Communicate {why} explicitly.

Frame {why} as targeted questions to be answered.

Thanks for reading! I hope you enjoyed it & picked up something useful!

Until next time, stay extraordinary.