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Rethinking Meetings: From Tasks to Collaborative Relationship Building
To make meetings more focused on building relationships, co-creating, collaborating, and co-producing, we need to shift from task-oriented agendas to ones that foster long-term relationships and yield better results. Traditional meetings often become divisive, centered around who failed at what, who was late, or who said something contentious. This stems from our individualistic culture where tasks are assigned to individuals, who then may pass the blame when things go wrong.
In contrast, a collaborative approach, like rowing a boat together, requires everyone to contribute. Instead of blaming Fred for falling short, we ask, “Fred, how can we improve together?” This team-oriented mindset is further challenged by remote working and dispersed teams, which can amplify individualism and reduce opportunities for direct, honest communication.
There’s nothing quite like being physically present with colleagues to foster brutal honesty and what one might call “radical candor” with positive intent. To truly benefit all stakeholders and avoid the relentless tick-box exercise of “I did my bit, now what’s next?”, we need to explore how to conduct meetings differently. Here’s how:
1. Define Clear, Collective Objectives
Shared Purpose: Establish a clear, shared objective for each meeting. Ensure everyone understands the collective goal and what the group aims to achieve together.
Collaborative Agenda Setting: Distribute a detailed agenda beforehand and allow team members to contribute to the agenda items. Include time slots for each item to keep the meeting on track.
2. Encourage Inclusive Participation
Equal Contribution: Use techniques like round-robin discussions or breakout groups to ensure everyone has an opportunity to contribute. Begin by having each person share what they hope to achieve by the end of the meeting.
Role Sharing: Rotate roles such as facilitator, timekeeper, and note-taker among team members to encourage shared responsibility.
3. Utilize Efficient Technology
Collaborative Tools: Utilize digital tools like Slack, Microsoft Teams, or Miro for real-time collaboration before, during, and after meetings.
Meeting Records: Record meetings and use transcription services for easy reference and to accommodate those who couldn’t attend.
4. Build Strong Relationships
Regular Check-ins: Schedule regular informal check-ins to build rapport and understand team members’ concerns and ideas.
Constructive Feedback Culture: Create a culture of constructive feedback where team members can freely express their thoughts about meeting effectiveness and outcomes.
5. Commit to Continuous Improvement
Post-Meeting Feedback: Send out quick surveys to gather feedback on what worked and what didn’t. Use this data to improve future meetings.
Regular Retrospectives: Hold regular retrospectives to reflect on past meetings, celebrating successes, and identifying areas for improvement.
6. Ensure Effective Follow-up
Action Items and Accountability: Clearly outline action items, assign responsibilities, and follow up on these in subsequent meetings to ensure progress. Review if the collective goal was achieved.
Summary and Consensus: Send out a meeting summary with key decisions, action items, and deadlines immediately after the meeting, ensuring consensus on what was achieved.
7. Adopt Flexible Meeting Formats
Stand-up Meetings: For daily or frequent updates, use short stand-up meetings to keep everyone aligned without taking too much time. Each participant states their contribution to the daily goal.
Interactive Workshops: For problem-solving and brainstorming, use workshop formats that encourage active participation and creativity.
8. Focus on Collaborative Systems and Routines
Standardize Collaborative Processes: Develop standardized processes for meeting preparation, execution, and follow-up to ensure consistency and efficiency.
Build Collaborative Habits: Encourage habits like punctuality, preparedness, active listening, and mutual support to improve the overall meeting culture.
Implementation Example:
1. Weekly Planning Meeting:
Objective: Align the team on priorities and tasks for the week through consensus.
Agenda:
Review previous week’s action items (10 mins)
Team updates and blockers (20 mins)
Discuss and assign new tasks (20 mins)
Q&A and open discussion (10 mins)
Roles:
Facilitator: Rotates weekly
Timekeeper: Rotates weekly
Note-taker: Rotates weekly
Collective Goals: Each participant writes down and shares their individual goals aligned with the collective objective at the beginning of the meeting.
2. Post-Meeting Actions:
Distribute Notes: The note-taker sends meeting notes with action items immediately.
Set Reminders: The timekeeper sets calendar reminders for follow-up on key tasks.
Feedback Survey: The facilitator sends a quick survey to gather feedback on the meeting’s effectiveness.
Review Goals: Each participant reviews whether their individual goal, contributing to the collective goal, was achieved and notes any follow-up actions required.
By focusing on collaboration, cooperation, and consensus, meetings can transform into productive and engaging sessions that build stronger relationships and foster a supportive, cooperative environment. This approach ensures that the focus is on beneficial outcomes for all stakeholders, rather than just individual tasks in a relentless tick-box exercise.
