Yes, some meetings could have just been an email or phone call. However, the axiom isn’t a hard-and-fast rule that applies to all meetings. There’s something to be said for sitting in the same room, brainstorming and bouncing ideas off one another. There’s value in face-to-face conversations as the team works through questions and challenges. Fruitful meetings are worth our time.
Although articles vary specifically, a quick web search indicates that most of us may be averaging between 11-15 hours a week in meetings. Are all those meetings the productive sort? Probably not, and that creates a problem for those that are. How do you keep a team engaged in a meeting when they’re burnt out on meetings?
Your meeting should have a clear purpose. Outline an agenda before you gather – go ahead and include a line for new business if you want some wiggle room to venture into other topics that might be pertinent to the conversation. Share the outline with your team before you gather so they can come prepared to discuss those specific topics.
If the meeting starts to veer off the agenda, guide the conversation back to the prepared outline. “This is an interesting topic, and we should unpack it more. However, let’s table it for now so we can work through the items we planned to tackle today. We can schedule another time to unpack this more if it makes sense to do so in a meeting.”
At the start of your meeting, give some parameters. How long do you expect this discussion to last? What do you hope to accomplish at the end of this meeting? How will the team proceed if you don’t reach the desired conclusion by the time the meeting is over?
Studies indicate that we have an average of 3 seconds before someone decides whether to give their attention to something or not. This applies to social media posts, emails, paper communications, and, yes, meetings and presentations. Here’s the thing – it’s a lot harder to check out of a meeting you’re expected to contribute to. If you can get away with daydreaming at the table, you might. If you need to engage in dialogue, you’re more likely to remain engaged because, well, it’s hard to give input when you don’t know what’s happening.
Of course, keeping everyone attentive is not the primary reason for encouraging participation. It is a great perk. The real reason is that you’ve called this meeting for a reason. If collaboration wasn’t the goal, then perhaps the meeting wasn’t the right format. Everyone around that table should have something to contribute to the conversation – or you need to rethink your use of their time.
It’s a lot easier to chat and engage in a relaxed, casual setting among people you have a relationship with. This isn’t to suggest that we need an idyllic work environment where we’re all friends. That’s not realistic. It is to say that we ought to come to the table as more than just our roles and responsibilities.
Give space for small talk before the meeting starts. Create opportunities to get to know your team as individuals – not just their job description. The benefits of this transcend the conference room. People are generally happier in places they feel known and seen. They don’t want to be just another cog in the machine.
Productive meetings require dialogue. You’re there for the give and take and that means sometimes differences of opinion will arise. Ideas will be floated that aren’t great ideas. Flaws in current processes may be pointed out. And that’s all a good thing. It’s what gets things moving forward. Just set parameters on what constitutes respectful discussion and hold to them.
Invite different viewpoints. If you reach the midway point in your meeting and the team seems to be chugging along in concert, it’s actually okay to say, “Are there any differing thoughts on this that we haven’t heard from yet? Is there something we haven’t considered?” Open the door for those that might not be as enthusiastic about the trending input to step in and say so.
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