The Devil Named Meetings

I love Chris Stapleton and his soulful, down-on-his-luck country songs. I can imagine a life filled with whisky, smoky bars, and life on the road but... Let's be real. His days are so different than mine. So just for fun on this pre-holiday, throw-away workday, I adjusted the lyrics below to better reflect my reality as a federal meeting facilitator.

This was done with a lot of love and respect for Chris and my cherished clients-- and apparently because I have nothing better to do.  You can buy the real song and sing along here.

Big hugs and Happy Thanksgiving!

we need more words for meetings

There’s a rumor passed down from one Anthropology 101 class to the next each year.  Eskimos have like 30 words for snow. Whether it’s true or not, the idea that communities come up with more descriptive terms for their most frequent events makes sense. It also makes sense that someone else who sees a snow a couple times a year would be baffled by this buffet. It’s just snow. Snow is snow.

Meetings are my snow. And, probably yours too.

Many of us work in a climate where the weekly forecast calls tons of meetings. They’re often back-to-back and sometimes go for days on end. Many are purposeless, energy-depleting endurance events and others have no value. It’s not news that meetings are unpopular.

But for someone who spends a lot of her time planning, attending, facilitating and following-up after meetings, this bad rep bums me out, man. I kinda like ‘em—especially the ones that are clear in the objective and when everyone is paying attention and participating.

Using the umbrella meeting label for any event calling for 2 or more people to communicate with each other is how meetings became comparable to unmedicated dental work. I’d argue that not all meetings are the same and the bad ones are ruining it for the rest. For example, conference, summit, gathering, and party are all meetings. These terms conjure up something specific with the expectation that something interesting will happen. Right?

On the flip side, here are a couple words that I think should be added to the lexicon that describe what we hate with more precision.

• Duck, duck, staff: When you go around the room and “tap” each person one at a time.  Adding random selection to the typical, let’s-go-around-the-room update helps make sure everyone is paying attention.
• Monopo-me: Many gather at the request of one. Time is generously but begrudgingly donated to the cause making one person feel important and listened to. The real message heard? Me. Me. Me.
• Statusize: Like jazzercise but less strenuous. You’re not sure you actually accomplished anything but you showed up and there are points for that.  Everyone does jazz hands at the ends because, well, it’s over.
• Strategery: Held annually because you’re supposed to or in crisis because you have to. These events have the build-up and the buzz words (strategic, innovative, creative, solution-oriented) but no real way to get there.
• Catch-up: Quick, casual and not time-sensitive. Just like the homonym suggests, you squeeze out what you can and don’t worry about what’s left in the packet.  You have a dozen more in the glove compartment.

We should skim these dreaded events out of the pool and reserve the word “meeting” for those occasions when we get together with purpose, focus, and function.

Together, we can save meetings.  Will you join me?

getting clear on roles

They say that good fences make good neighbors. Good fences at work make us focus—clarifying roles to keep the important and relevant issues in and everything else out.

From sweeping initiatives to mundane meetings, we all show up on any given day and assigned a roll that is one of three. These rolls are to unlock, propel or support the solution in motion. Knowing our role (and sticking to it) increases our impact while enabling others to play their part-- not to mention avoiding confusion, frustration, and disappointment. Let's break this down a bit...

• To unlock is to bring expertise to the problem, clarify the issues, and offer paths that work (or just might work). To be the unlock-er, you show up prepared-- armed with questions, with data, with anecdotes, with horror stories, whatever you need to get clear on the challenge so that you can credibly and confidently propose a solution and convince others to consider your options. The performance metric is binary.  Will the solution work for now- yes or no?
• To propel is to apply all the kick-off, kick-start, kick-ass project management, list-making, and inspiration skills you can muster. With conviction, your job is to move the (already agreed-upon) solution forward, generating excitement and momentum along the way. The performance metric is binary. Is the project progressing for now- yes or no?
• To support is to show up, play as a team, coordinate, collaborate, and celebrate the little successes. With dedication and reliability, you embrace the processes and protocols.  Like the others, the performance metric is binary. Are you getting your job done- yes or no?

We can all quickly recall occasions (probably from this morning) when the lack of fencing around these roles created a problem-- an avoidable problem heaped on top of the original one we were there to solve. One reason why we stumble over these roles is that they are ever-changing. Depending on the need, we're called upon to flex different skills. This is clearly easiest when you know what's expected.  

So, the trick for whoever is in charge is to ascertain what's needed in the moment, line up who's right for what, communicate that expectation, and go. Rinse and repeat for the next issue. 

Follow through or else

Color Grid: Spring 2 by Allison Long Hardy

Strategic plans are like dust bunnies. They have a cute name but are an annoying reminder that there is something else we should be doing. They're amassed from the fur, fluff, and fuzz floating around and tend to reproduce in dark corners. Strategic plans are often the end goal of a long process with at least a meeting or two scheduled along the way.

Strategic planning meetings can be great but have limitations. Done well, they...

• Get everyone on the same basis of understanding around the problem to be solved
• Lay the foundation for some near-term decisions the leadership team will ultimately have final say on
• Energize a team in a rut

Sadly, the initial interest and excitement generated during the meeting can flip to disappointment quickly after. The problem usually isn't in the meeting itself, it's the follow through. To avoid frustration and reduce the risk of long-term eye-rolling, there are two choices.

1. Plan, schedule, and market the meeting as a team building exercise. Then when good strategic thinking happens and written down in the minutes, the team is delighted.
2. Build follow through into the process at the beginning. Schedule a least post-meeting sessions to bring closure to the plan and, more importantly, get a few (2-3) of the priority actions rolling.  Then, get a meeting on the calendar for one year out as a reminder to all that the plan will be revisited, progress reviewed, and actions refined for the next year.

3 tips for experiential board meetings

We look forward to board meetings like we do putting gas in the car. Getting together is obviously critical in order to run but you know you're going to bump into some questionable characters and afterwards have an intense desire to wash your hands.

Who would look forward to prepping for weeks in advance to entertain an bunch of well-meaning but ultimately bored and distracted know-it-alls? In the non-profit world, boards provide strategic guidance, raise funds, and make connections. In the for-profit world, it's pretty much the same-- except that a many are actually paid to be there.  So that helps, I guess.

Either way, the issue we face when preparing for and engaging our boards is an issue of disconnected judgement. The organization's mission is clear. The board's purpose is clear. Unfortunately though, they're together so infrequently and rarely ever during a normal day that both sides lack sufficient understanding to really help each other help the organization.

What to do?

Commit to at least one experiential portion during the annual or semi-annual meeting. These sessions should be...

Hippo by Martin Pool

• At least 1/2 a day (4 hours) with a bit of time at the end to talk casually about what they did or saw
• Mimic normal day-to-day challenges to the greatest degree possible.  Obviously, most staff or patients or tourists or clients will behave differently when there is someone unfamiliar lurking about. Even so, get the board involved with whatever you develop and deliver at the most fundamental level.
• Split board members up (so that they don't just talk to each other) and pair them with your most passionate staff.  Focus on pairing board members with sparky, interesting people who embody the mission. With this approach, you might not pick your highest performers or even someone doing everything by the book. However, the benefit is that the board member will be exposed to an impassioned person who will naturally seize that opportunity to reinforce why the work is so important. They'll also see the strengths, weaknesses, and risks up close.