A meeting scorecard: 7 Research-backed Behaviors that Make Meetings More Productive
By Stephen Garcia, EdD
In 15+ years of working with clients of all sizes, the leaders of Contemporary Leadership Advisors who developed ConvoLens have learned a lot about what makes good meetings different from bad ones – and what we’ve seen is that while structure, process, and tools are important, what really matters is how participants interact and work with one another. Only through these interactions do meetings achieve their objectives: sharing information, solving problems, and making decisions.
With the ConvoLens app, we recommend scoring against the seven research-backed behaviors listed below that are proven to drive meeting effectiveness.
1. Do people participate equally?
The more equally people participate in a meeting, the better the meeting’s outcome. And this makes sense: the more engaged all participants are, the less their minds wander and the more fruitful the discussion. In contrast, when only one or two people dominate a meeting, the group doesn’t benefit from everyone’s perspective, decisions are less broadly informed, and some participants leave feeling unheard. It’s important for people to not only deliberately contribute during meetings, but also to encourage others to contribute as well (by nodding at others’ points, verbally agreeing, etc.).
2. What’s the balance between task and social interactions?
Meetings, of course, require that people talk about the task at hand. Investigating topics by describing the problem, exploring causes and effects and comparing solutions are all linked to meeting effectiveness and team performance. It’s equally important, however, that team members spend time during a meeting socializing. By bonding over personal lives, even minimally, meeting participants establish the social assurance that can give them the space and security to argue for their professional opinions during meetings. Humor, in particular, lightens the tone of a meeting and facilitates team performance.
3. Are people asking questions?
For people to form the soundest conclusions, they need to be armed with as much information as possible. For this reason, people should ask questions during meetings – to clarify their understanding as well as to draw others out. Indeed, the extent to which people ask questions during a meeting vs. the extent to which they argue for their own point of view matters. Though both contributions are important, groups are most effective when there is a greater ratio of inquiring statements to advocating statements.
4. How well does the group surface conflict?
Conflict can be difficult, but it is often an important part of reaching the best conclusion possible. When conflict is allowed for, everyone can honestly advocate for their own ideas. This stimulates new thinking, encourages open-mindedness, and discourages groupthink. In fact, some of the worst meetings we’ve experienced are those in which no one is willing to disagree.
5. Is the discussion process coordinated?
For a meeting to be really productive, it’s necessary for people to facilitate the discussion through real-time coordination (e.g., “We’re here to discuss the following priorities,” “Let’s move on to the next topic,” “We’ve only got 15 minutes left”). Though perhaps the least glamorous of meeting contributions, these types of statements guide the discussion and help meetings flow and progress.
6. Does the group plan next steps?
Imagine a meeting in which everyone sits down and starts contributing brilliant idea after brilliant idea. Though a helpful meeting in theory, these brilliant ideas are relatively useless until they are put into action. It’s therefore important that meeting participants discuss the specific, follow-up actions they will take when the meeting is finished.
7. How often people interrupt each other?
The root “rupt” comes from Latin and means to break. When participants interrupt one another or engage in sidebar conversations, they break the flow of the discussion. It becomes much harder to understand what’s being discussed because ideas aren’t given the opportunity to be fully expressed. Also, interruptions and sidebar conversations indicate to others that what you have to say is more important than what they have to say. This ultimately undermines the psychological safety of the group.
To move from a culture that perpetuates bad meetings to one that fosters good meetings means getting people to practice the right behaviors and minimize the wrong ones. The first step is recognizing these seven behaviors. The second step is applying these behaviors throughout your team or organization’s meetings. ConvoLens is the tool that will help you do that.
Why not give ConvoLens a test drive with your organization? Sign up for the free Beta trial.