Salvaging Bad Meetings
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Today’s second topic is a book review of ‘Right Kind of Wrong: The Science of Failing Well.’
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Links to purchase the books discussed in this newsletter can be found on my website's recommended reading page.
Every week, there are articles about how to have an effective meeting. Almost all assume that the reader is the person organizing the meeting. But what if you are a participant? There are some things you can do to salvage a potentially lousy meeting.
Don’t Accept the Invitation
Many of us accept meeting as the default response. Respond as tentative. This response opens the door for you to ask for meeting details. Many of us are overbooked on our calendars because so few people do not check for conflicts. A tentative response keeps all of the meetings on your calendar and creates a legitimate reason to reach out to organizers. You need to know the agenda to determine whether you will attend.
Request Pre-work Materials
Use a phrase like “I want to be sure I am prepared to contribute…” when you ask. It is a diplomatic way to press the organizer for information you need to be effective or, in some cases, decide whether you will attend.
Study the Meeting Details
Become your best Sherlock Holmes and look for clues. Examine the subject line, consider the organizer, review the attendee list, and check the location. Many times, combining this information will enable you to make logical assumptions. You should assume two or three possible agendas and prepare for each.
What to do if You Cannot Ask for Details
If it is your boss, another senior leader, or a customer, you probably have little choice but to accept the meeting without asking for more information. In these cases, there are three things to do. Arrive early and start conversations. Talking to the other attendees while getting coffee is a great source of information. You must be present; do not check your email or read different documents. Focus on the meeting to understand where the organizer is leading the conversation. Ask non-threatening questions. The questions are often easy to identify. Wording them so they do not come across as challenges is where it gets tricky.
Some Meetings are Unsalvagable
Four types of managers generally call internal meetings. Hopefully, your meeting will be called by an effective manager who has a clear purpose and uses your time and effort well. Too many are scheduled by the other three types. Micromanagers want to know everything you are doing. Try to present in a way that reduces their ability to change your work plans. Narcissistic leaders believe they are brilliant and everything they say is worth listening to, so they hold court. Insecure leaders sound exactly like narcissistic leaders, but because they suffer from imposter syndrome, they have to prove to everyone they have what it takes. If you are not in a position to decline these meetings, you just have to go along for the ride.
The problem with meetings is that there are too many of them; they include people with little value to add, most are too long, and most do not have clear agendas. Bad meetings are one of the greatest productivity killers. Perhaps by changing our participation behavior, we can change organizer behavior. (Call me an optimist.)
Related Articles
What to Do and What Not to Do During Meetings (Medium)
Yale neuroscientists have discovered why Zoom meetings make your brain go numb (Fast Company)
The Revised Psychology of Human Misjudgment (Farnam Street)
Unveiling the Keys to Productive Meetings: Mastering the Top 3 Secret Elements (Medium)
How To Have Effective Meetings: From Theory To Transformative Practice (Forbes)
Stop Wasting People’s Time with Meetings (HBR)
Productive meetings: An evidence review (CIPD)
How to save the world (or at least yourself) from bad meetings (TED)
Book Review – Right Kind of Wrong: The Science of Failing Well by Amy C. Edmondson
There have been many articles and presentations on the importance of recognizing that innovation involves experimentation. And experimentation involves failure. What is important is to follow the discipline of scientific discovery – observe, hypothesize, predict, experiment, and analyze the results.
Amy Edmondson provides a crucial framework that enables us to create systems that allow and reward good failures while avoiding the types of mistakes that neither add value nor useful knowledge. She identifies three types of failures. Basic failures are easily avoided with care, diligence, and training. Complex failures result from the compounding effect of a series of small mistakes. Intelligent failures result from intentional actions, with an understanding of the risks, and plans for responding to the expected array of outcomes. Creating an environment that enables intelligent failures requires a systems thinking approach to help assess the results of experiments so responses can be rapid and effective.
In the introduction, Edmondson shares that, after working with hundreds of people in varied organizations, she began to “see patterns that yielded a new topology of failure.” This is similar to the experience that led me to write The Leader With A Thousand Faces. I worked with several hundred companies and over a thousand leaders at all levels of their organizations.
What I’m Up To
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Quotes
“Progress comes from the intelligent use of experience.”
- Elbert Hubbard
“For me, losing a tennis match isn’t failure. It’s research.”
- Billie Jean King
“The greater the obstacle, the greater the glory in overcoming it.”
- Moliere
You can order The Leader With A Thousand Faces on the Recommended Reading Page of my website.
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