Freshening up your meetings

One of the great throwaway lines in business is ˜We have knowledge sharing, we regularly hold meetings . From experience, such group gatherings are rarely in the knowledge zone. They are full of unspoken agendas , undisclosed ideas and repressed feelings. We only need to read the following commonly quoted statistic in the computer industry to understand that we do not always communicate well: it is estimated that 50 per cent of the rework in computer software alone is due to a lack of sharing of assumptions on fundamental issues.

Of course, this legacy is not just a bastion of the computer industry. It is a claim that could be relevant to any area of human communication and interaction. Managers and their businesses generally can do much better in how they conduct and organize their interactions, meetings and conversations.

Taking the trouble to review how we meet can make a massive difference to the results we achieve. Over the past twenty years I have made this my speciality and I never cease to be amazed what you can generate with a little more imagination , foresight and planning. There are, of course, times when a firmly controlled agenda and debate may be necessary. However, on the whole this approach is excessively used. The fact is you cannot schedule creativity and fun; it must be engaged and encouraged, with a clear purpose and in the right environment.

There are many ways to freshen up your meetings, ranging from simple adjustments such as having different people chair a discussion or where the jamming of ideas is actively encouraged within a high-energy weekend retreat. The key is not to overuse the same technique; mix them around and keep it interesting. Already in earlier chapters we have discussed how methods such as open space, action reviews and ordered sharing can help stimulate innovation and raise awareness. Here are three additional approaches to aid exchange, innovation and learning.

Brown bag sessions

People bring their own lunch , hence the word ˜brown bag , or sandwiches are provided to encourage freewheeling conversations. Here issues are more far reaching than normally would be discussed at work. Examples of topics could be balancing both work and home, diet and nutrition or working from home. Such gatherings often include fun, interactive exercises and games . The aim of brown bag sessions is not about heavy and intensive conversation, but about enjoyment, doing something different and building community spirit. It also gives people a chance to explore issues and make connections and friendships that they would not otherwise have an opportunity to do in their work.

Knowledge fairs

Creating forums for people to share is widely used in business and communities across the world. When it comes to knowledge fairs the sky is the limit! With the right framework, a little mystery and some celebration , these events can be truly transformational. The good thing is that successful knowledge fairs can easily pay for themselves in increased enthusiasm , networking and performance for many years to come. Two examples among my clients in the past year include teams sharing their ideas for better quality on large cardboard posters and a marketing division of a pharmaceutical company setting up a circus tent in a park and inviting product managers to run games based on product knowledge.

Getting on the web

Meetings and collaborative thinking need not occur face to face in the same place. Now, with the help of digital technology, it is much easier to share ideas or have collaborative experiences with people who are in a different time and place. The world of the virtual meeting has truly arrived. Whether you are sharing comments on documents, presentations or emerging thoughts or are using message boards to canvas feedback, being face to face at the same time has become less of a problem. We no longer have to wait in the same room to have a meaningful conversation to start things off. As long as you have a clear purpose and the right technology and software you can begin.

To highlight the power of collaborative technology here is one of my favourite stories by Professor Peter Sheldrake from the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology. He tells a story about a graphic designer in Melbourne who was asked on a Friday afternoon to do a layout for a newsletter. The manager wanted her to have the job finished by first thing Monday morning. To the manager s complete surprise, the graphic designer handed in a full layout on time, at the beginning of work on the Monday. When quizzed on how she did it, she just smiled and said a friend in London helped her by using file sharing and e-mail on her home computer. She went on to explain, because of the time difference of ten hours and that her friend had a couple of hours to spare she was able to help out. Anyway a month earlier, she did the same in reverse. This story which I heard some five years ago began my interest in this rapidly growing field. The area of collaborative technology will be explored further in Chapter 11.