What keeps me in a meeting?

The word culture gets thrown around a lot. But what IS culture? Looking at culture through the prism of meetings helps make sense of what culture is and why we stay in meetings we don’t need to be in.?

Why is it so hard to leave? Is it because your calendar tells you to be there and you don’t want to disappoint people? Or is there more to it??

For years, Science House has been partnered with The Culture Institute, creator of the Culture Map. The system includes seven dynamics, each represented by a different color. To understand more, watch this video or look at the legend below.?

We spoke with Dr. Simon Sagmeister about the overlap between culture and meetings. This summary might help you understand why you, your team and organization have so many meetings and can’t seem to say no.?I am the co-founder of Model Meetings, a company we created at Science House to enable organizations to achieve better results with less stress. It isn't about saying no to meetings. It's about understanding the purpose of WHY you're there and what you can contribute. This is hard to achieve because of these dynamics. I would love to know in comments which dynamics you see most frequently in your own organization.

These dynamics are being described in terms of meetings but they broadly apply to everything involving people, groups and culture.

Purple

Group/team-spirit, ‘us against them’ mentality, rituals, tradition, strong belief in the leader.

Spoken reason: “We’ve always had this meeting, it has served us well in the past,? so why stop now? This is just what we do.”?

Unspoken reason: “It is not up to me to decide how we spend our time. I don’t want to question authority. This is my tribe."

Red

Act first, think later, shoot from the hip, get-it-done attitude, comfortable with chaos,

Spoken reason: “I need to make sure things get done”.?

Unspoken reason: “It gives me an element of control to be there to argue and keep things moving. Without me in the meeting the lazy people will get nothing done”

Blue

Order and structure with reliable rules, processes and hierarchy.

Spoken reason: “If it’s on my calendar, I’m here. We will stick to the agenda. Every meeting should start sharp to the minute and end sharp to the minute.”?

Unspoken reason:? “Where will we be if people start skipping meetings or if people arrive late? That is no way to run an organization. We need reliability.”?

Orange?

Looking for opportunities, priorities based on business value, innovative and customer-driven.

Spoken reason: “I’m going to this meeting because I add value. I want to move things forward for our customers.”?

Unspoken reason: “What keeps me here is the status. I want to shine. If this meeting helps my career, I will embrace it. I want to move ahead in this company and being here and adding value demonstrates my importance. If I don’t go, they won’t bother thinking about the customer or innovation at all.”?

Green?

Humanity, camaraderie, consensus-driven, with emphasis on harmony above all.

Spoken reason: “I need to be in the loop. It's important to keep good personal relationships. I want to know what’s going on in people’s lives.”

Unspoken reason: “I will miss social cues. It’s a nice break from work to go to a meeting. Not going to the meeting might hurt someone's feelings. I don’t have the courage to offend my boss/colleagues by turning down a meeting invite."

Yellow?

Curious, scientific, logical, rational, fact-based, data-driven and analytical.

Spoken reason: “I want to know more. I want you to know more. Meetings are the place where knowledge is shared, questioned, and debated."?

Unspoken reason: "Without me at the meeting it will be driven by opinions and not facts – which might result in unsound decisions being made. They need to think things through properly.”?

Aqua

Purpose driven, systems thinking, with emphasis on the health of the organization.

Spoken reason: “I want people to understand the connections and interdependencies between all the pieces. I want to make sure our mission guides our actions.”

Unspoken reason: “I have a feeling of responsibility for the whole. I want to make sure that people understand where we could go if we take the art of the possible seriously and contribute to the health of the ecosystem.”