How to have awesome meetings

Posted on August 15, 2017 by Shawn Yates, One of Thousands of Business Coaches on Noomii.

Last week I had a lot of fun helping the design team at an entertainment venue (think laser tag, bowling alley, etc.) design a new experience for their guests. They have been working on a new design for several weeks, but were stuck in a rut and couldn’t come to an agreement on how the experience would run. I was asked to help. After a few short hours everyone was onboard and construction of the new experience could begin! They said it was the best design meeting they had ever had and they wished it happened a month ago.

Did I come in with a deep history of consumer entertainment experience? No, not at all. Other than liking to play games myself I had no real experience in designing the type of thing the team was creating. What did I do then that made a difference? I was brave enough to ask dumb questions and to break their pattern. Let me share what I mean in hopes that it will inspire you too!

Ask Questions

As the discussions started, there were a lot of terms, acronyms and concepts that I didn’t know. Now because I am an outsider to the industry that makes sense. Every time something came up that I didn’t know, I would politely interrupt and ask for an explanation. No magic there, right? Actually, it frequently turns out that there is a value in asking about these things. I have done this in plenty of meetings over the years and very frequently it leads to a greater understanding not only for me, but for others in the room.

I would say that about 75% of the time, someone else in the room who is part of the industry doesn’t know the term I am asking about either. Those familiar with the term would respond with the explanation and share it with the rest of the group. This usually leads to a quick discussion and explanation which brings the one or two people who didn’t know, including me, up to speed.

More importantly, at least once in almost every meeting, two or more people in the room have a different understanding of the term, acronym or concept in question. Different people in the room have varying assumptions, viewpoints and opinions on the thing I asked about. This results in a much more interesting, and sometimes intense discussion. Until I asked the “stupid question”, everyone in the room assumed everyone else shared the same understanding. When I ask and get a variety of different answers, it is eye opening to those in the room. Sometimes, the differences are so great that my simple question leads to follow up meetings or workshops. It’s easy to do this as an outsider, but you don’t have to be an outsider to get value from this idea.

When you are in a meeting, be aware of terms, acronyms and concepts that you think are common. Be brave and ask about them – make sure everyone is on the same page. If everyone is already in agreement, the resulting discussion will be quick as everyone gives a similar answer and agrees with everyone else. Based on my experience, if you are brave enough to ask the questions, you will quickly find that there are more assumptions made than you know. If you are persistent in it, you will be known as the person who asks the tough questions and gets to the bottom of things!

Break the Pattern

After asking questions and building a common understanding, you might think that the design team was all set. They were certainly more in alignment with each other, but they still couldn’t come up with what they felt was the next great experience for their customers. There were certain aspects of the design that they kept going in circles on and they seemed to be re-making the same decisions a few times over. I stepped in with a quick visualization technique and gave them a new way to look at things.

The team was discussing how people would move through the experience and in what order things would happen. This was a complex discussion with many facets and no single path through the parts of the experience. As the team talked about this, they seemed to get a bit lost in some of the details, lose sight of the overall path and then circle back to remake decisions. They were stuck in a rut and needed a way to break out.

I almost always have sticky notes and permanent markers with me. I asked them to pause and bring me up to speed by letting me write the major steps of the experience onto sticky notes and then arranging them on the wall. Because I was an outsider, this was easy for me to do because I didn’t feel a risk of being embarrassed or not having it work out right. Once the notes were on the wall, they started their discussion again. This time, I kept referring them back to the notes on the wall to talk about how they related to each other. And, when they went into too much detail or got off course, I would ask if that was part of one of the topics listed on the sticky notes. As long as it was part of an existing topic, I would redirect them back to the bigger picture by reminding them to focus on the things on the notes and how they related to each other.

I know that breaking out sticky notes is not a ground-breaking idea. The real point I am making here is that it takes bravery to break the pattern and do something different. Members of the design team said they had thought of a similar process but never felt it was the right time to introduce it. I interpreted that to mean they were never brave enough to introduce a new pattern or process which might be embarrassing or may not even work.

Be brave and do something in a new way. Maybe its sticky notes, maybe it’s a contest, survey, poll, game, drawing, competition or any number of possibilities. The key is to try. Even though it may be hard to get others onboard at first and you may feel like you are doing something strange. Stick with it and soon you will be known as the person who has creative and effective ways to get things done!

A side note

In both cases, I had an advantage as an outsider. It was natural for me to ask questions others may have felt silly asking. It was easy for me to propose a new process because I was not part of the team’s culture and norms. This is all to say that sometimes there can be a great advantage in having a third party facilitate a meeting or workshop. If you work in a large company, maybe that is someone from HR or from another part of the business. If you are a smaller company, maybe it’s an outside facilitator. If you are facing a challenge that needs collaboration, consider the benefits of having someone else facilitate for you!