End 'all-talk' meetings

Travelling on a Melbourne tram yesterday, I was riding past a business office not far from where I live. One of the company's meeting rooms faces the street, so I always look in as we pass by to see what they're doing in their meetings.

Of the many, many times I've gone past, they seem to always be:

- sitting at the table,

- looking at each other,

- talking at or with each other.

A fairly standard meeting. I call it an 'all-talk' meeting. They're not looking at anything; just each other.

Sure, eye contact and connection is important but meetings that are all-talk are worse in terms of productivity, engagement, clarity and decision-making.

If a 'common point of visual context' was used - a visual something... anything for them to look at - productivity would peak! A visual on the wall, a whiteboard, a flip chart, heck use the window!

When we're making sense of information and all we use is each other, we miss out on the opportunity to find and build commonality.

Meetings give us information overload; then we go for relief, distraction ...and we switch off.

Shift your meetings from 'all talk' by adding 'some visual'. It's plenty better!

Everyone’s got note pads but no one is making sense

A meeting room I was in recently had a table with 8 people seated at it. Each person had arrived at the meeting with a collection of props and belongings:

- a water bottle

- their ID/security card

- their mobile device

- notepad and pen.

The notepad and pen - yes, an analogue tool, but powerful nonetheless.

Everyone in the meeting was writing their own notes down. Their own insights, their own wording, their own triggers for ideas, their own recollection.

It was very singular, individual even though it was a group meeting. Great! They’re making sense of things, but oh no ...they're doing it alone. Someone says something, then everyone’s head drops down and they all write it down in their own notepad, their own 'map' of the world they're talking about.

We’re individuals trying to work this stuff out as a group.

Sensemaking - it can be done alone or better... together.

Rather than everyone looking at their own 'map', make a group map, a central map on a whiteboard or flipchart.

More progress is made in uncertainty when we have a common point of visual context. 

The cost of distraction

Checking your phone during a meeting is a productivity, focus and attention killer.

We think we can be present in the meeting AND scroll, check and read … but no.

Our IQ drops and we develop ‘attentional blindness’.

We lose the ability to judge what information is valuable or important. It’s probably why we think some speakers deliver boring segments, meetings have boring parts or workshops have boring sections. But shock, horror… it may not be boring it all!

It’s possible our ability to make sense has been interrupted. What others deem important ...we don’t. Then it switches over; they check their phone and get distracted, and we’re paying attention. We notice the important things; they don’t.

Whenever you’re trying to get ‘alignment’ or make sure everyone is ‘on the same page’, make a point of having mobile devices out of sight.

Focus, attention, IQ and cognition will be better, stronger and the work will be achieved quicker.

If you're going to check anything, check who’s distracted and who’s focused on the work at hand. 

The cost of leaving the room

What’s the cost to your attention and cognitive load when you leave a meeting room, to step outside to take or make a call?

If we knew, we may think twice about even looking at our devices or having them near us.

Breaks are good, yes, and responding to an emergency, we have to.

But ‘just stepping out for a moment’ creates ‘Swiss cheese moments'. That yummy cheese has holes in it. So will your sense, the threads of understanding you’ve been holding together!

It’s not only that you miss content when you leave, it’s the switch of context and the impact on your attention, thinking and focus.

- A leader stepped out of a one-day workshop six times last week.

- Another leader thought they could be in 2 meetings at once: one via a webinar/online coming in through a single ear pod, but sitting at the table of the other meeting they’re trying to attend.

No wonder why:

😩we struggle to make sense and manage information overload

↩️ we need to go over information again and again, and

🐢why meetings take so long!

The cost of overwhelm

When it hits you, that information overload feeling, what do you do? Panic? Get a coffee? Look at your phone?

None of these are helpful.

The feeling of overload, that ‘full sponge’ feeling isn’t pleasant.

Disengagement, distraction and withdrawal are all behaviours connected with information overload.

We try to cope. How often do we nod to say we understand something or have the information in hand, but in reality we're scrambling to catch up, struggling to stay awake or fed up with feigning interest?

Could it be career limiting if we don’t appear smart, sharp and “all over it”, having all the information under our control?

Enough.

It’s time to call out when something doesn’t make sense or the pace, quantity or style of information is overwhelming us.

It’s most likely overwhelming others too. We have a responsibility as communicators of information to guard against information overload in ourselves, and creating overwhelm for others.

We don’t need to suffer. Cognitive load coping is very much a skill for today....and the future.