Changing …. Short and sharp agendas
© 2024, James McLean
I facilitate psychological adaptive work. To do this, I intend to create environments where people begin to think and feel differently about a specific challenge or even themselves.
Last week, we commenced some new work within an organisation where many people knew each other’s names but didn’t actually ‘know’ each other. We created several spaces within our ‘agenda’ (a process of exploration) for them to share about themselves beyond the standard CV and learn about each other as people.
Common beliefs about meetings
I find I need to be very creative in creating space and time to put this sharing and relationship development first. Participants don’t want to feel like I am wasting their time. They have been taught several ‘truths’ about working together and meetings including:
Meetings are generally a waste of time
A good meeting is a quick meeting
Time is money.
You may want to pause reading and reflect upon a recent meeting experience.
We can tend to focus on getting through the agenda and ticking off the items quickly – and those ‘meeting truths’ are sitting in our minds…
But, it’s often the wrong place to start. The wrong action to prioritise. Especially as the world we work in becomes even more volatile and uncertain. Especially if we are seeking genuine innovation.
In this complex world, we need to bring people together to share their different perspectives. They need to feel comfortable to speak up and share their perspective – especially if it is at odds with the prevailing view of the boss or the majority. The group needs to listen to each other deeply and explore questions that people care about deeply to find new ways forward. Emotions can get high. Tempers can fray. These are all things that can’t be rushed through. They take time and flexibility to work through.
Knowing each other matters
If the group members actually know each other better, they have:
Stronger bonds between each other to hold difficult conversations together
Better listening because of the deeper sense of respect between people
A greater sense of boldness as a group moving forward together.
As I write this, I am recalling a team-building exercise that was quite popular some years ago. Team members were encouraged to jump out of a tree to be caught by their colleagues (safety harnesses, etc, were employed). This was a ‘trust building’ exercise and was safe in the sense that I never heard of anyone being physically injured by the activity. But it didn’t translate to the workplace and meeting conversations. I mention this example because I am not encouraging this type of sharing.
There’s a wonderful poem by Margaret Wheatley called Turning to One Another and to quote a small portion:
“Remember, you don’t fear people whose story you know. Real listening brings us closer together.”
Work emerges from relationships
Therefore, the best work/outcome emerges from the relationships that people develop. It emerges from the culture that develops within the group. It's more than the best outcomes emerge; it is also true that the very nature of the solutions changes because of the way people work together.
Let me go into that last statement a bit further.
Have you been a part of a meeting where the agenda items are developed on a preconditioned understanding of what ‘the solution’ will look like? Have you come away with a feeling that there “was no space” for you to even enter the conversation because of how the agenda was constructed? So, you probably end up nodding, smiling, and going along with it all even though you may not agree or feel something else needs to be discussed.
The conversation is the change
A strong and time-conscious agenda is a good way of reinforcing the status quo at a time when many of us are seeking genuine innovation.
A good conversation is a game-changer! And conversations take the time they take.
The more important the work and decision, the more contentious the issue – the more you need to invest in developing the relationships – before even thinking about the task – because ‘the task’ may change as you learn more about the challenge.
Our obsession with a task-focused, short and sharp agenda needs changing …
What do you think?