Meeting Flow

Having designed many hundreds of meetings there seems to be a logical flow to the activities. It's a bit like a good dinner - you wouldn't start with dessert! Whilst it may seem obvious, it is clear from working in many different organisations that most people when putting together a meeting agenda don't think about the flow. Their first interest is in getting the work done in the shortest possible time.

You can find more about our meeting design here.

The flow that we find works for us is:

1. Getting Started
One of our principles for meeting design is 'Connection before Content'. Connection is about coming together and forming a community that has both the capacity and the will to act. When connection happens it creates safety: people learn who is in the room, what they have come together for and what their own contribution might be. The process is about finding links with others - some shared experience or common interest.

Dannemiller Tyson introduced us to a theoretical model they call MCG (membership, control and goals) that we have used for some years to consider the development of teams. Over time we have come to see it as three iteratively connected Cs.

The first C is Connection.

The second C is Community of Action.

The third C is Common Purpose.

Processes that you can use for getting connected include:

Raggedy Start Up
Telling Our Stories
History Template

2. Exploring Context
A logical next phase of a meeting, or topic within a meeting, is the one in which information is shared. At best this paints a rich picture and builds a sense of shared context to inform decision-making and action. As a minimum it is limited to the key facts determined by the organisers.

Meetings are often planned for decision-making. This can be difficult because people are short of key facts or information which can then make the decisions seem wrong and the meeting a waste of time. We can only make decisions about what we say or do based on the information we have.

When someone makes a decision we do not agree with we need to ask ourselves first, "Why might they have made that decision?" "What information do I have that they could be missing which would have influenced their thinking?" This question will inspire us to share more information and improve our decision-making.

Processes that you can use for exploring context are:

Content Maps
Organisational Diagnosis
Stakeholder Mapping
Open Forum
Mind Mapping
Polarity Matrix
SWOT

3. Envisioning and Futuring
Once all of the information has been shared and the issues are clearly on the table the temptation is to go straight to action planning. Beware!

The direct route from issues to action planning is likely to use a problem solving mindset. Once in 'problem solving' groups can struggle to shake off the desire to blame others, become depressed and wonder if anything will ever be different. This leads to a focus on easy short-term goals, reducing pain, fixing the obvious and a general struggle to develop any motivation or sense of responsibility.

Alternatively, developing a positively framed description of what is desired can be the pivotal point of any meeting. It brings together all of the information shared and all of the people present and transforms the experience into some form of common purpose and sense of what 'better would look like'. It mobilises energy towards the action planning work. People who have spent time envisioning will bring tremendous excitement, creativity and hope to action planning, aiming for more stretching, longer-term goals and high motivation to move toward something they want to make happen.

Charles Handy has talked about this in a 'Thought for Today', reflecting on the value of creatively reframing things. The familiar and the problematic become an arena of possibility with scope for a myriad of new attitudes, behaviours, actions, laws, and other energising responses.

An important aspect of futuring is the way in which it supports co-operative working across diverse groups. The images focus awareness away from the interpersonal and inter-functional issues and towards common desires and aspirations. As people imagine themselves working together in a successful future, and look back on how well they have co-created that future, they begin to see the possibility of new relationships and live them out. Common desired futures can become an anchor for committed action based on mutual interest.

A great deal of research has been carried out over the last three decades on the conditions that support 'positive reframing'. The work of Ron Lippet, Edward Lindeman, Robert Fritz, Warren Bennis, Victor Frankl, Ronald Fox, Eva Schindler-Rainman et al has produced an understanding of the way in which working with 'images of potential', and envisioning what could be (instead of problem solving and lamenting), can create amazing energy, enthusiasm, optimism and high commitment.

People who participate in the process of futuring, rather than being given a 'vision' by someone else, are more able to act on their own choice, to be 'empowered' and take responsibility for creating the future they choose. They are also more likely to share this vision with others and seek to share and integrate their vision so that they can build the communities who want to make it happen.

Processes for envisioning and futuring:

Post-It Brainstorm

Objects and Principles

Skits

Cover page
Negative or Reverse Brainstorm
Ideas Garden

4. Action Planning
By now there is momentum building in the meeting as a shared frame of reference takes the group towards the action planning stage. Experiences vary but typical high points will have been:

building teams that can learn and be increasingly open together
developing a sense of shared history
exploring the context for the meeting
discovering the common ground
building a shared understanding of the present state
creating a compelling vision or view of the desired future.

A new social memory is being developed in the organisation or community - that things can be done differently, that energy, genuine consensus, buy in and commitment are achievable. People are ready to take account of other perspectives as they move forward and feel more capable of developing robust, sustainable plans of action to begin moving towards the desired future they have described.

In Meeting Design and Facilitation we described the change formula DxVxCxF>R and said that if any of the multipliers was zero, then resistance to change would not be overcome. First Steps falls into the planning category, if no time is given over to developing plans of action or first steps, people will be inclined to leave thinking, "Well that was a good meeting, but we'll never achieve those goals we worked on". Or they will be unclear as to what is expected of them in moving forward. Dependencies will be reinforced and the leadership continued to be blamed for not getting things done.

It is important, therefore, that some time for planning is designed into the meeting and this typically follows the envisioning/futuring session. There is a real sense of 'V' which can create the pull necessary for organisations and communities to move forward, aligned and ready to implement new ways of doing business. In our experience the time dedicated to planning can take anything from 30 minutes in a short meeting to half a day or more for longer meetings. The Design Team will provide good advice as to what is a good investment in time.

Other issues to consider in this phase will be:

synthesis of data generated throughout the meeting
potential implementation issues, options and scenarios and the appropriate follow-up these would need
awareness of the needs of individual groups within the team
the planning of initiatives to support, encourage and facilitate new strategies and interdependence as action plans start to be implemented
consideration of how appropriate it is for individual and/or group planning
building in time for statements of intent and simple commitments.

Earlier stages of the meeting will have been very divergent, ranging widely and with many issues and perspectives. This part of the meeting is a convergent time, building on the futuring work and the group's new capacity for developing concrete action steps.

Processes for Action Planning include:

RACI Chart
Gantt Chart
Goal Directed planning
Simple or Multi-Level Commitments
Stop, Start, Keep

5. Reflection and Evaluation
Although this is at the end, and we advocate having a specific reflective period at the end of meetings, many of the process options we describe in here could, and should, be used at all stages in meetings.

Our friends Dick and Emily Axelrod use Reflection as a design principle. They believe that learning occurs through reflection, that in taking a step back to observe and understand we recognise patterns and connections. When we reflect, we make meaning out of seemingly unconnected events and activities. Without reflection, we are just a series of random of events, doomed to repeat the mistakes of the past.

Reflection is the process of holding up mirrors to others and ourselves. It is reflection that helps us to truly accept and hold the tension between our current reality and our desires for the future. It is reflection that leads us to what Peter Senge calls personal mastery and double and triple loop learning.

The art of reflection can be lost in the modern world. Much of it is organised for quick fixes and instant action. We have even heard it suggested that we spend something like 90% of our time in action mode and only 10% in reflection.

The work of reflection includes personal work to identify vision, obtain feedback and develop personal goals. It embraces many team formations and development activities - particularly those which uncover deep un-discussables and enables them to be dealt with. Tools like 360 degree feedback, self-managed appraisal systems and personal journals can support the discipline of reflection and the development of halls of mirrors which give constant and real time feedback throughout the system.

Processes to support reflection and evaluation include:

Graphic recording
Culture/graffiti wall
After Action Reviews
Learning Logs
Written Evaluation Forms
Buddying