THE PROBLEM WITH MEETINGS AND THE SOLUTION:?
Who loves meetings? Who loves spending hours out of their day endlessly discussing agendas, operations and plans? Who enjoys airing opinions and monopolizing the meeting- or having to listen to those who do?
I was recently reading about something they’re calling ‘silent meetings’. I can just imagine the eye-rolls at that phrase, as we imagine sitting captive and silent in a meeting, not talking, or listening.. but still in a meeting. Doesn’t make sense, does it?
Stick with me here. This isn’t as ridiculous as it sounds. For one thing, there’s apparently research that shows that 60% of us do exactly that right now, while just 20% of us - that’s 2 in 10 participants - hold court, airing our views and making our voices heard and creating a ‘leadership’ reputation for ourselves.
No wonder Elon Musk once said that it’s not rude for someone who can’t contribute to a meeting to leave, so that they can go and do something productive.
So, how does a ‘silent meeting’ work? And does it work? ?
The rationale behind the ‘silent meeting’ is to ‘galvanize introverts and neutralize blowhards’, according to Madeleine de Hauke, a consultant who advises on productive meetings.?How is this accomplished? By everyone writing their ideas down and having them put up on a board, anonymously.?
The article doesn’t make it clear what happens at that point, or how the ideas are then discussed and decided upon, but it certainly does give those who usually stay silent in meetings, an opportunity to share their thoughts without being overshadowed by those who’re more vocal.?
I’m not sure that it’s a good idea, though, to have the ideas displayed anonymously. That could lead to issues when an idea needs to be clarified or additional thoughts added during the discussion process. Suddenly the author has to own up or remain silent to preserve the anonymity.?
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Now, we all know that there’s a certain dynamic to meetings which are face-to-face, and that it’s perhaps not quite the same when participants are remote. But, and I’ve written about this before, how many of our meetings are truly necessary and how many are simply a waste of time? Meetings that fall into the same category as those ‘committee meetings to decide on a committee to investigate a possibility of taking the next step’.
It seems to me that the concept of ‘silent meetings’, might be more productive, because ideas are put in writing, as opposed to simply being talked about without necessarily saying anything concrete.
If we opt for ‘silent meetings’, it would be especially convenient when collaborating with people across time zones. Or in circumstances when we can’t all gather together in a conference room. That way, all those ‘thoughts’ can be added when it’s most convenient for the participants.
Not only that, but it gives us opportunity to both spend time thinking about the topic and to process the ideas contributed while formulating our own contribution. Instead of firing off-the-cuff, or simply staying silent and not contributing at all.?
Then later, once all the ideas have been contributed, a discussion can take place in the same way - or it could be ‘live’ via video, or voice, conference.?
To my mind, that would clearly eliminate the ‘time waster’ meetings and keep things on track and in perspective. It’s then also easy to get a clear overview of what’s being discussed, what’s proposed and what makes sense.
That’s one of the ways that #Optevo Conversation Pods save us from time-wasting meetings and allows for all the voices to be heard, which as de Hauke points out, increases idea #diversity and fosters #innovation.?
What do you think about the ‘silent meeting’ concept? Is it something your organization implements? If not, do you agree with the statistics that meetings are often dominated by a few people while the majority remain silent? What do you think the solution to having more productive meetings would be??Let’s discuss it - I’d like to hear your thoughts!
#Meetings #SilentMeeting #Leadership #HybridWork #RemoteWork #Optevo #CWM #business #technology #innovation #FutureOfWork
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2 年I like meetings where you can write/draw your points in silence and have an opportunity to elaborate on your points. It does see seem to help with the "input equality."
I untangle CEOs from their operations as they grow their team. You have a powerful vision so let’s free up your time and make it happen! Experienced Fractional Operations Manager
2 年I haven't been to a silent meeting but I've been to a virtual accountability meeting. The attendees gather in a Zoom room and after a brief introduction, the facilitator asks everyone to turn off their camera and audio on Zoom. Then everyone gets busy with their own work. After a certain amount of time (usually an hour), the facilitator asks everyone to turn on their cameras and will end the meeting. For those projects that someone procrastinates on, this type of silent meeting might be helpful. I'm on the fence about them, Andre. I did complete what I wanted to so it wasn't a waste of time.
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2 年I'm not a fan of silent meetings, or of relying only on async communication. I believe there is huge value in the live exchange of ideas. That said, there are certainly problems with most business meetings, including: (1) no clear objective (2) too many people. There was a funny scene on "The Morning Show" where a person wanted a 1:1 meeting, and it ended up with about 20 people there. You know, if Joe is going to be there, we need to invite Stephanie too. And so it went. I believe it takes courage to speak up when a meeting is pointless, unproductive, or if you're not really needed (like Elon Musk's point). But I believe courage will go further to improve meetings than going silent or async Andre Williams.
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2 年Andre Williams : I respect Elon Musk as an engineer and visionary, but wouldn’t take his views on emotional intelligence seriously. Nor do I agree that silence in a meeting is necessarily a bad thing. Sometimes, silence in a meeting occurs for a good reason (too many to enumerate here). That being said, I do like the idea of a silent meeting in certain contexts (eg, creative meetings, meetings with certain tangible outputs etc). Would a meeting, say, that briefs a team on how to effectively lobby for a company’s legislative agenda really benefit from this approach, or people who have nothing to say just leaving? NO. But could more innovative approaches to the management of certain meeting types, such as discussed in your article, benefit corporate cultures? Absolutely. Thank you for this.
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2 年Can’t wait to check this one out Andre Williams. When I run meetings I like to use the strategy of leaders speak last. Potentially engaging every person on the discussion is a key priority. Is there a reason that the person should not be engage in discussion, and I really shouldn’t be at the meeting :-).