{"id":1180,"date":"2014-08-22T12:59:52","date_gmt":"2014-08-22T11:59:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.knowledgeetal.com\/?p=1180"},"modified":"2016-10-19T10:08:52","modified_gmt":"2016-10-19T09:08:52","slug":"a-canoe-a-pieris-japonica-and-a-conducive-space-key-ingredients-for-special-and-productive-meetings","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.knowledgeetal.com\/?p=1180","title":{"rendered":"A canoe, a pieris japonica and a conducive space: key ingredients for special and productive meetings"},"content":{"rendered":"

I often refer to the metaphor of: ‘Drinking from the fire hydrant<\/em> ‘to describe what it feels like trying to keep up with the wave of material that hits our email in boxes.\u00a0 And if like me you have 4 mail accounts (for different businesses and pro bono activities) you will know the challenge. In the past filtering of content was handled by the manual clippings service which collated material and grouped it according to a set of predefined topics.<\/p>\n

Today much of that is automated but you still end up skimming and relying on trusted sources. I find less is more and prefer thought pieces from organisations such as the McKinsey Quarterly <\/a>and Strategy & Business<\/a> (formerly a Booz and Company publication now part of PWC).<\/p>\n

meetings are the factory floor for knowledge workers<\/h2>\n

This week’s thought leadership interview by Theodore Kinni <\/a>in Strategy & Business about meetings caught my eye. Based on a book Let\u2019s Stop Meeting Like This: Tools to Save Time and Get More Done<\/em><\/a> by Dick and Emily Axelrod<\/a>, a couple of quotes hit home:<\/p>\n

S+B: Why should executives be concerned about meeting effectiveness?
\nDICK AXELROD:<\/strong> Meetings are the factory floor for knowledge workers.They are where a lot of work gets done\u2014or should get done\u2014these days. Organizations are getting more complex, and making them work requires people to meet. Meetings are also artifacts of the organizational culture. If you change the way you meet, you can begin to change your culture. And meetings are huge engagement opportunities. They are where people decide whether they\u2019re going to sit on their hands or they\u2019re going to put their wholehearted self behind whatever needs to be done.<\/p>\n

AND<\/p>\n

…..These five factors\u2014purpose, challenge, autonomy, learning, and feedback\u2014provide a way of thinking about a meeting that goes beyond the agenda and mechanics, like how you set up the room. If you can embed them in your meetings, you should have good ones.<\/p>\n

S+B: How do you embed them?
\nDICK AXELROD:<\/strong> We use something we call the \u201cmeeting canoe\u201d for that. It\u2019s a six-stage process that represents the order, shape, and flow of the meeting experience. First, you welcome<\/em> people and connect<\/em> them to one another and the task. Then, you help them discover<\/em> the way things are, and elicit<\/em> their dreams about what could be. Next, you help them come to a decision<\/em> about what should be done and ensure that everyone is clear about the decisions reached and who is going to do what. Finally, you attend to the end<\/em> by reviewing the decisions reached, identifying next steps, and reviewing how you worked together.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

choose which meeting you attend<\/h2>\n

This all struck me as being true! We are all looking for ways of making meetings more effective and the idea of making them voluntary (you have to see value and want to attend) is one that plays very well with Open Space Meetings – A method of running meetings – the agenda is decided on the day by participants and there are five main rules during the mini-breakout sessions:<\/p>\n