Un-Boring Meetings
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Transcript of Un-Boring Meetings
“Always design a thing by considering it in its next larger context – a chair in a room, a room in a house, a house in an environment, an environment in a city plan.”
eliel saarinen
there are organisational contexts that make meetings both (1)
unavoidably boring and (2) unavoidable.
teaser
how do we redesign organisational contexts to avoid doing (unavoidably
boring) meetings?
the real question
most meeting literature reiterates the same basic rules with the same
clear goals One defined purpose that only a meeting can achieve clear rules The right and tight agenda with time boxes, participants, roles, activities clear feedback Ongoing visual documentation, record-keeping of decisions, actions, insights sportspersonship Commitment and mutual care
basic meeting result in mind
1. To share & deliberate information & concerns 2. To deliberate, make & share decisions
why do we meet?
3. To solve problems 4. To nurture social relations
• getting to know each other • being seen • catching up • …
Officially recognised
Workshops are better formats
Often an inofficial agenda, though meetings are poor tools to achieve it
“Some of you will already be familiar with this, but …”
“This may not be relevant to everyone here, but …”
common give-aways
game jam: small, co-located project team
Continuous incidental info-sharing Continuous shared decision-making
Many quick, focused 1-on-1 conversations
Large known shared ground!
uni: big, dispersed, differentiated org
Infrequent cross-group info-sharing Unclear cross-group decision-making
Few, long, oversharing many- to-many meetings
?Small/unknown shared ground
The larger, more dispersed, and functionally differentiated the host organisation, … the less frequent incidental information-sharing, … the more unclear decision-making authority, … the more participants at the meeting (3+), …
… the more meeting participants are structurally predisposed to say and
hear things they find irrelevant.
… the smaller the known shared ground,
if shared ground was all …
… we could do it by e-mail… or wiki… and we all just read or skip as needed.*
* a.k.a. “knowledge management”
to act, we need accountable shared ground
mutual presence
I know You knowthatYou know
thatI know that
etc.
“Well you can’t say you didn’t know.”
“You were at the meeting. You had the chance to say something then.”
common give-aways
1. Meetings are unavoidably boring in groups with little known shared ground and …
2. we can’t ditch meetings because we need accountable information and decision-sharing.
3. Ergo, despair?
what we learned so far
1. Meetings are unavoidably boring in groups with little known shared ground and …
2. we can’t ditch meetings because we need accountable information and decision-sharing.
3. Ergo, despair?
hack #1: increase known shared ground
1. Meetings are unavoidably boring in groups with little known shared ground and …
2. we can’t ditch meetings because we need accountable information and decision-sharing.
3. Ergo, despair?
hack #2: institute alternative accountable sharing practices
hack #2: institute alternative accountable sharing practices
purpose
Social streams, newsletters, …
nice-to-know information
accountable information
Read receipt black boards
simple decision
Doodle.com
informed decision
Silent briefing
problem solving
nurturing social ties
Workshop Alibis 2017 :)
???
and in big, disperse, differentiated organisations, and in groups of 3+, unknown shared ground is unavoidable.
?
so: meet less (boringly) by establishing more known shared ground …
social streamscolocation
delegation to teams
… and institute alternative ways of achieving accountability …
purpose
Social streams, newsletters, …
nice-to-know information
accountable information
Read receipt black boards
simple decision
Doodle.com
informed decision
Silent briefing
problem solving
nurturing social ties
Workshop Alibis 2017 :)
???
(or other purposes you care about).