Can You Hear Me, or Aren’t You Listening?

Posted on by Scott

listeningThe human body truly is amazing. Take your ears, for example. So many of us take them for granted. Yet these odd looking appendages allow us to enjoy music, recognize friend from foe, and engage in meaningful communication. In fact, we rely on verbal communication to such an extent that references to ears and hearing are everywhere.

“Do you hear what I hear?”

“Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears.”

“Can you hear me now?”

Here are a few facts about our ears that you may find interesting:

  • The outer ear, the part hanging on the side of your head, is designed in a way that funnels the variety of sound waves around us and channels them to the middle ear.
  • Incoming sound moves from the outer ear to the eardrum, causing it to vibrate. These vibrations are picked up by three bones that amplify the sound.
  • These three bones (the malleus, the incus, and the stapes) make up the middle ear and are the smallest in the human body. All three could fit on the face of a penny.
  • After leaving the middle ear, sound waves are picked up by tiny hairs in the liquid medium of our inner ear. These hairs release chemicals that send signals to the brain which interprets the sound.
  • Humans are capable of detecting sounds as low as 20 Hz and as high as 20,000 Hz.
  • We need both ears to help determine the direction from which sounds originate. Using both ears also makes it easier to pick out someone’s speech in noisy environments.
  • The human ear continues to function even while we are asleep. The brain simply blocks out most of the input.

As incredible as our ears are, we don’t do a very good of using them. As far back as 1957, researchers have been studying the difference between hearing and listening. That’s when Ralph G. Nichols and Leonard A. Stevens from the University of Minnesota conducted tests to find the connection between hearing information and retaining it.

They tested several thousand people by having them listen to a short talk and then testing them on the content. Their tests revealed that “immediately after the average person has listened to someone talk, he remembers only about half of what he has heard – no matter how carefully he thought he was listening.” Within two months, the average participant in their study could only recall about 25% of what had been said during the short talk they had listened to.

You would expect that, over time, we’d retain less and less of the material we’d been exposed to, but the University of Minnesota study found otherwise. After one year, Nichols and Stevens reported that we tend to forget more during the first, shortest interval than we do over the next six months or more. The most significant retention loss occurs within the first eight hours.

Their conclusion was rather blunt: people simply do not know how to listen.

Hearing and listening are two very different activities. Hearing is a passive activity. It happens without me doing anything. Without any effort on my part, sound waves are entering my outer ear, hitting my eardrum and vibrating the bones of my middle ear, and then creating chemical secretions in the hair of my inner ear which then travel to my brain. This complex process is effortless.

Listening, however, is not a passive activity. Listening is intentional. It requires me to concentrate on specific sounds in order to analyze them. Listening involves more than just the ears. The brain must be engaged in order to create context, meaning, and application. This complex process is anything but effortless.

But remember, Nichols and Stevens found that the no matter how hard participants in their study worked at listening, the results were still the same. Listening “harder” did not help anyone retain more information or hold onto it for a longer period of time. The problem, they said, is that our brains are just too powerful.

Most Americans speak at a rate of around 125 words per minute. Our brains, on the other hand, process information significantly faster. We still know all there is to know about the brain, but suffice it say 125 words a minute barely registers. Our minds simply have a lot of extra time to ponder other things even while listening intently to someone else.

I myself am often distracted while trying to listen to other people. For instance, during a walk around my neighborhood, I like to download a podcast or two in order to help pass the time. I hit the play button and focus my mind on the speaker’s content, intent on learning something new and interesting. But within seconds, my mind has drifted. Something that’s said sends causes my thoughts to wander. Sometimes I start thinking about how I can apply one of principles they’ve shared. Other times, a word or phrase jogs my memory about an unrelated topic and my mind is off to the races – moving in a different direction even as the speaker shares valuable and intriguing information. I’m hearing, but I’m not listening.

They key to improved listening has nothing to do with our ears. Obviously, the answer doesn’t lie in slowing our brains down either. We’ve got to arm ourselves with tools that help focus our minds in a way that listening is improved. We have to discover methods of actively participating with the information being received so that it makes a bigger impact.

That’s why the term “active listening” is so appropriate. Listening is not a passive activity. It requires action on our part in order to work. The next time you find your mind drifting during a conversation, don’t just sit there. Take action!

Crack the Code: How to Design Emails People Want to Read

Posted on by Scott

rotor-cipher-machine-1147801_640In 2011, an international team came together to try and decipher a manuscript written almost 300 years earlier. The document was penned in the 1730’s and contained 105 pages covered in Roman letters, mathematical symbols, shapes, and unrecognizable runes. There were no spaces to indicate word breaks. No previously known documents matched the style of writing and there was no key to help understand what they meant. The entire book was written in code.

It took months of heavy-duty computing and manual guess-work to finally crack the cypher. What the team revealed was the membership manual for a secret society called the Oculists. The book detailed some of their rituals and bylaws. This was a group of free-thinkers, people who challenged the established religious and political powers of the day. To protect themselves from persecution, they met in secret and communicated using complex codes.

I often receive emails that are written in what looks like Oculist code. You now the ones I’m talking about. You open them up, but close them after only a cursory glance. What you’ve seen is either a jumbled mess, or so hard to read, you quickly decide to move on to something easier to digest.

If you write many emails, and you do, this should worry you. We send emails with the expectation that they will be read and understood by the recipient. We don’t want our message to be a mystery. Yet, the way we design an email can make it seem more like a puzzle to be solved than a critical piece of business intel.

When people open an email and what they see looks more like an ancient coded manuscript than relevant information, they’ll click “close” (or even worse, “delete”). Your email needs to be easy on the eyes if you want people to read it. Start with these tips:

  • Stick to a single topic. Keep your emails focused. The more ground you try to cover in an email, the more you’ll have to write. And long emails are among the first pushed into the “read it later” category. That’s ok if your sharing information that’s not time-sensitive, but be honest – you’re looking for a quick turnaround when you hit send, aren’t you? Keep your message simple, and you’ll keep the email focused. When it comes email, focus is a good thing.
  • Keep the paragraphs short. When reading, our eyes seek out white space. White space lets our brain anticipate a break in the action and gives it a chance to rest. Smaller paragraphs are easier to process, which is what we want, right? We want the content to be understood, assimilated, and acted on. Small bites provide the reader an opportunity to absorb the information. When it comes to email, brevity is a good thing.
  • Use bullets, numbers, and pictures. When you find yourself needing to share a series of related items, break up the page to make it easier for scanners (like me) to find the important stuff quickly. Bullets help highlight key points. Numbered lists are great for illustrating a series of steps. Headings separate chunks of text into more manageable sections. Pictures, such as a computer screen shot, aid in recall. These techniques also add variety to the page. When it comes to email, variety is a good thing.
  • Choose the right font. There are somewhere in the neighborhood of 250 different fonts available for use in Microsoft Outlook. Most of them are horrible for email, including the default: Calibri. I’d never thought about the effect an email font has on readability until I sat down to write this article.

I’m switching to Verdana. The extra space between letters makes it easier on my eyes, even at a smaller font size (I’ve set mine at 10 point). Different fonts may look cool, but we’re not trying to be cool – we’re trying to be read and understood. Oh, while you’re at it, stick to black or dark blue for the font color. They’re the most readable. When it comes email, readability is a good thing.

  • Lose the background. Your message is the point of the email. Anything that doesn’t add to the message, distracts from it. This goes for colored backgrounds or patterns. All that extra fluff adds unnecessary weight to your email. You wouldn’t have a serious conversation with someone and intentionally invite a group of toddlers into the room would you? Allow your message the freedom it needs to be understood. When it comes to email, distractions are a bad thing.

Unless you’re writing the manual for a secret society, it’s best to keep your email formatted for easy reading. Or you could follow the Oculists and allow your message to remain a mystery for some adventurous sleuths to decipher. Just be ready to wait. It could take a few hundred years.

How to Keep Your Email Out of the Junk Yard

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spam-964521_640Since January 1st, I have received more than 3,400 emails that have been classified as “junk.” That means every day, my email account automatically detects and quarantines somewhere in the neighborhood of 40 undesirable messages. And that doesn’t count the SPAM that slips by the filter or is caught by my ISP before it ever gets to my account.

The first iterations of what we call email looked very different. Back in the mid 1960’s an MIT program called MAILBOX allowed electronic messages to be placed on a single computer for the next user to find and read. As technology progressed, point to point connections (like the U.S. Department of Defense’s ARPANET) allowed two machines to communicate back and forth. It took the advent of computer networks before our modern concept of email to arrive.

Today, email is the default method of communication for organizations around the world. Just last month, 430 billion emails were sent world-wide. According to SenderBase, an email monitoring service, 86% of was junk. That’s 369 billion emails – an average of 13 billion per day – that we didn’t ask for and that hold no value for us as the recipient.

Of course, not all junk email can be classified as SPAM. There are plenty of legitimate emails from people we know that we mentally classify as junk. My inbox sees a constant flow of messages from people vying for my attention. Some of them have valuable things to say, others are a waste of time. The sheer volume of email is difficult to manage. I’m constantly working to prioritize what comes my way, sifting through the flood of information to find those bits that best deserve my attention.

As a sender of email, I’m fully aware that my audience fights this same battle. Whether I’m communicating to customers or coworkers, my message enters the same boxing ring as the others. I can’t take for granted that the emails I send will even be opened. Ultimately my goal is for them to be read and responded to as opposed to deleted and forgotten. To win this war of the Inbox, I need a strategy.

  • I need to send selectively. Email is scarily easy to use. That means we use it a lot. The volume is the first hurdle to overcome. So I try to be selective when using email as a communication medium. Here are a few cases when I feel email is the wrong answer:
    • When your entire message would fit in the subject line.
    • When your topic involves confidential or sensitive information.
    • When a phone call will do.
  • I need to pick the right audience. It’s tempting to include the world in your email message, but unless what you have to communicate has broad appeal, it pays to limit the number of names in the To: or Cc: section. If the message is directed toward me, my name should be on the To: line. If it’s important that I be informed, maybe I belong on the Cc: line. Other than that, I don’t need to be involved.
    • Don’t select Reply All unless everyone needs to see you response.
    • Don’t include someone as a Cc: as a form of name dropping or intimidation.
    • Don’t use the Bcc: field. Just don’t.
  • I need to use a good subject line. Once you’ve decided an email is appropriate, and identified the correct audience, the next battle you have to win is for attention. Your subject line is like the title of a magazine article or a newspaper headline. It should give me a sense of what the content involves and pique my interest so that I choose to read more.
    • Save funny or mysterious subject lines for non-work topics.
    • Communicate the purpose of the email clearly.
    • Make it easy to scan; stick to no more than 10 words.
  • I need to make the content worthy of the reader’s time. The last thing I want is for a reader to feel like I have wasted their time. What I send needs to be relevant, helpful, and/or necessary. If people view my communication as amateurish or unnecessary, then I lose credibility. I don’t want to do that.
    • Keep it short – shorter emails are read sooner and the information is retained longer.
    • Use the spelling and grammar check options. Please.
    • Periodically check for feedback to make sure your emails are having the desired impact.
  • I need to include a clear call to action. I often read emails and find myself wondering “What is it they want me to do?” Your email should communicate how the reader is supposed to react to the information. If you want the reader to take some particular action, tell them what it is.
    • List specific calls to action in the first paragraph.
    • Provide a time frame for response and/or next steps.
    • Allow adequate time for response – your readers already have jobs to do.

When texting came on the scene, many took it as a sign that email was on the way out. Something tells me we’ll be managing our inboxes for a while longer. Make sure your emails get read – design them to be appropriate, informative, and welcomed. SPAM belongs in a can.

How Language Affects Your Performance

Posted on by Scott

people-1099804_640“Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me.” No doubt, you heard this phrase from your parents growing up. You may even have shared it with your own children in an attempt to sooth the pain caused by hurtful comments. It’s meant as a declaration of mental strength, a statement of an individual’s ability to rise above insult, and a belief that words hold no power.

What a load of crap.

The truth is, words do have power. The right ones, spoken by the right person, can hurt even worse than an actual physical assault. Of course, words can also heal; they can strengthen and encourage. It all depends on how they are used.

Like our posture and the way we dress, the way we use language helps other people determine our capability in serving them. Our speech patterns – the combination of words we select and the way we utter them – communicate a great deal about our belief system and the way we approach our work. Language is an incredibly important part of what makes us human, yet we pay so little attention to using it properly.

Dr. Sophie Scott is a “speech neurobiologist” with University College in London. Using a technique called functional magnetic resonance imaging, or fMRI, Dr. Scott has actually mapped the way our brains interpret language. When someone speaks, two different parts of the brain go to work. The left temporal lobe begins interpreting the actual words that are spoken. It takes sound and converts it into concepts and images that help understand the content being shared.

But the sound of our voice, what Dr. Scott calls the “melody,” is processed by the right side of the brain. This is where we interpret music, and it helps us determine the mood and intent of the speaker. This part of the brain functions to ascertain someone’s actual feelings – regardless of the words they use. It’s this dual processing power that allows us understand how we should respond when someone says “It’s nice to meet you,” while also realizing whether or not they actually mean it.

Think about how you greet someone. Does your voice carry the same inflection and energy when meeting a customer as they do when meeting a friend? The words might be the same, but the meaning is often completely different. If your pitch drops and the speech is monotone or rushed, that customer greeting probably comes off as insincere and obligatory. Your greeting could cause a customer to feel like an unwelcomed intrusion – the exact opposite of the intended effect.

Do you speak in full sentences, or in short, clipped fragments? For instance, do you say “I can help you,” or do you just announce “Next?” Do you ask “What name would you like on the account?” or do you spit out “Name?” Try saying those phrases out loud. I bet the tone of your voice changes as you shifted from full sentences to fragments. That’s because our choice of words has an impact on the way we say them. And the way we speak impacts the way customers feel.

A sincere, meaningful greeting helps put the customer in a cooperative state of mind. Continuing the interaction with engaging language ensures they maintain a positive impression of the encounter. You’re already talking to them; why not make the most of it by using language that enhances the experience as much as possible?

Here’s another reason to be more careful with your word choice. The words you use not only affect the mood of your customer; they affect your own mood as well. Remember, even as we speak, our ears are pick up those sounds. Our brains are interpreting the very words we say to process both the meaning and emotion behind them. When we say words like “No,” an fMRI scan shows a release of stress-related hormones. We become more anxious and irritable after hearing our own negativity. Long term exposure to the word “No,” even though we are the one saying it, can impact our appetite, sleep, and memory.

In fact, any kind of negative language has detrimental effects on our health. And the longer it goes on, the harder it is to stop. We find what we go looking for. Pessimists see everything as a problem. Optimists somehow seem to find more opportunities. It makes sense then, to consciously use positive language whenever possible.

But that’s not enough. It’s not enough to choose positive words over negative ones. We have to use positive language with much higher frequency to overcome the damage negativity causes. Our brains are geared to respond more strongly to negative inputs. Negative language triggers the primal fight-or-flight response, so we pay attention to it. Positive language doesn’t pose a threat, so it barely registers.

We have to change our tone, for our individual and collective good.

Let’s start today. Let’s declare a cultural revolution within the organization and commit to changing the way we speak to each other, our customers, and ourselves. Let’s commit to saying “Yes” instead of “No.” Let’s turn our language into a powerful force for good. What do you say?

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Dress for Success

Posted on by Scott

belt-952834_640My son Andrew received a very important phone call last week. One of his best friends was preparing to ask his girlfriend to marry him. Following the proposal, family and friends were being invited to a surprise reception for the couple. The night of the event came and Andrew headed out the door – wearing a t-shirt and shorts.

Like it or not, the way you dress is important. In fact, style is a cultural obsession here in the U.S. We ooh and ah over what designers create for the latest celebrity event. We have TV shows dedicated to helping people craft their wardrobes. We even create websites dedicated to fashion disasters; peopleofwalmart.com, anyone?

There’s no doubt that what you wear communicates a great deal about you. We make any number of assumptions about someone based on how they are dressed. Various studies have shown that, as part of our first impression of someone else, we assign characteristics such as financial status, political affiliation, and educational background after just a brief glance at someone’s clothes.

The assumptions don’t stop there. How you dress also influences what others think about your ability to perform your job, and the effects of clothing choice can be very subtle. Dr. Ben C. Fletcher cited two different experiments in which men and women were asked to examine a series of pictures involving people dressed in a variety of outfits. In both experiments, the outfits worn were very similar – suits for men and blouse/skirt combinations for women. All clothing was conservative in nature and colors were kept the same. Faces were blurred, and only slight differences were made in the style of dress. In some cases, the suits were tailored or the skirts fell just above the knee vs. just below.

After viewing the images for only five seconds each, participants rated the models in terms of six dimensions – intelligence, confidence, trustworthiness, responsibility, authority, and organization. As you can probably imagine, those models whose attire was just a step above the rest were rated higher in all dimensions. Men in suits better fitted to their body were seen as “more confident, successful, flexible, and a higher earner.” Women who wore longer skirts and fastened an extra button on their blouse were viewed more favorably than their slightly more casual counterparts.

Of course, businesses have known about these tendencies for decades. That’s why so many have some sort of formal dress code or uniform as part of their personnel policies. It makes sense to protect the brand in this way. If people make unconscious assumptions about an individual’s capability, then it stands to reason that the same assumption would carry over to their feelings about the company as a whole.

But the way we dress also impacts our perceptions of our own capabilities. Just like posture, what we wear influences our sense of power and confidence. Researchers studying the influence of clothing on performance repeatedly confirm this theory. Olympic athletes dressed in red are able to lift heavier weights and tend to win more matches than those who wear blue. Subjects make half as many mistakes on tasks that demand high concentration when wearing a white lab coat. Men wearing suits during negotiations generate more testosterone and walk away with better deals than those who wear sweats.

This phenomenon – the impact that clothes have on the wearer’s psychological state – is called “enclothed cognition.” It involves two aspects of our chosen dress code. First, there’s the symbolic meaning of the clothes we wear. That is, what attributes do we associate with certain types of clothing? White lab coats for instance carry a certain connotation; we see them as belonging to people who are intelligent, trustworthy, and thorough.

The second component of enclothed cognition involves the physical experience of wearing a particular outfit. Putting on the lab coat is a significant act. Actually wearing one increases your attention to detail while simply looking at one does not. Putting on clothes associated with specific professions causes us to adopt – both physically and mentally – the characteristics we associate with that line of work. “Dress for success: starts to take on a whole new meaning now, doesn’t it?

Experts offer these tips for making sure your wardrobe has a positive impact on your success:

  1. Don’t show too much skin.
  2. Never wear dirty clothes.
  3. Don’t wear wrinkled clothing.
  4. Wear clothes that fit you well.
  5. Follow the dress code, or dress one step above it.
  6. Wear appropriate shoes and accessories.
  7. Don’t wear shorts.

Back at the Voland house, my wife and I stopped Andrew before he made a fashion mistake. We convinced him to lose the t-shirt and shorts in favor of jeans and a nice long-sleeved shirt. He immediately stood a little taller. He walked with a bit more confidence. He looked, and felt, like a different person. Plus, he made a great impression.

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Change the Way You Talk

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listen-1702648_640Each year, I identify a handful of personal challenges. This is different form setting resolutions – something that millions of people do as part of their New Year’s celebration. I used to set resolutions as well, but switched to challenges for a couple of reasons.

First of all, resolutions are often too vague. The most popular seem to be things like “get in shape” or “get organized.” While those are admirable goals to shoot for, they are simply too innocuous to mean anything. There aren’t any measurable steps spelled out which means people rarely start them or have a means to track their progress, a key part of self-motivation.

Secondly, resolutions that are specific tend to create pass/fail scenarios. People who resolve to start working out twice a week will often go through the process of joining a gym. Then they hit the weights for a week or so, only to suddenly miss a week due to work travel or conflicting commitments. Once the streak is broken, they fall back into bad habits and abandon the resolution because they missed the mark of perfection.

The whole point of year-end reflection and goal-setting isn’t perfection, though, it’s improvement. That’s why I like the idea of challenges vs. resolutions. Stating my goal as a challenge affirms, from the beginning, that this isn’t going to be easy. I’m going to have to work at it. I expect to stumble. So when I fall short, it’s ok to get up and try again. The game isn’t over just because I haven’t succeeded out of the gate.

Last week, I shared my first challenge for 2017: to change how I think. The second of my three challenges (my mind tends to work in threes) is to change the way I talk. Now there are those who say we should all just work on talking less. In fact, a friend at church one said “I never miss an opportunity to keep my mouth shut.” That’s sound advice, but given the chance to speak, what kind of words ought to come out? Here’s what I plan to focus on…

I’m going to try to speak in ways that encourage people. If there’s anything that this year’s election cycle proves, it’s that hateful language hasn’t gone anywhere. I find it incredible that so many people find it so easy to voice derogatory and hurtful things about someone else – typically someone they don’t even know. As I write this, I’m thinking about an interaction I witnessed Saturday night.

My wife and I were on the way to a Christmas party and stopped at the store to pick up something we’d forgotten as part of our gift package. As we checked out, two ladies entered. Something had apparently happened in the parking lot as they were glaring at each other. Suddenly they both began shouting. Profanity, insults, and threats were all there on display for the rest of us – including the young daughter of the vilest participant.

Though I haven’t been part of a spectacle like this, I’m not always very encouraging either. I need to stop participating in gossip. I need to stop shooting down ideas I don’t agree with. I can work harder to recognize people for the positive qualities they bring to the table and be a better cheerleader for their efforts.

I’m going to try and speak in ways that add value to outcomes. As I mentioned, I’m not always supportive of ideas that I don’t agree with. However, just because they aren’t my ideas, doesn’t mean they are bad ones. I’m challenging myself to either voice my support in a way that adds value or take my friend’s advice and keep my mouth shut.

The world of improv comedy has a number of valuable lessons for leaders. One of these is to replace “no, but” with “yes, and.” This means that instead of immediately identifying ways something won’t work, we look for ways to add value and assist in making the effort a success. It’s a subtle shift of two words, but a giant shift in attitude.

I’m going to try and speak in ways that invite participation. Sometimes I have a tendency to keep really great ideas to myself. I do the same thing with difficult projects I’m working on. I guess I’m either embarrassed to ask for help, or want to present a perfect solution. Neither is a healthy reason for keeping others out.

The third part of changing the way I talk is to invite more people to work with me on things. Instead of holding all the cards until I (hopefully) have things figured out, I’m going to try including others who might be able to help me be more successful. It’s more fun to work with others anyway, and burdens are lighter when shared with a friend. Plus, victory is that much sweeter when you have someone to share it with.

There are just a few days left in 2016. Are you thinking about what you’ll do differently in 2017? How does the language you use play into those plans? I’ll share my third personal challenge for 2017 in my last article of the year next Monday.

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How to Keep Your Meetings (And Your Team) Moving Forward

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rails-253134_640Over the past few weeks, I’ve been writing on the topic of team meetings. This series of articles started with a review of 3 meetings you should stop having. That was followed by 4 meeting types that you should be having. I touched on 3 elements that make for a productive meeting, and then last week the focus was on using questions to prepare for a meeting – regardless of whether you are the meeting’s organizer or a participant.

Today, I’m wrapping up the series with a look at meeting effectiveness. How can you be sure your meeting actually helps move the team forward? That’s really the reason why we have meetings in the first place, isn’t it … to help move things along? If people are spending their time in a meeting rather than engaged in performing the actual job tasks they were hired to do, then the meeting ought to help improve the way they perform those tasks. For example, if my job is selling widgets, any time spent away from that specific task (like attending a meeting) should serve to make me a better widget sales person.

It’s critical that we start here. You have to understand that meetings are a disruption. They keep people from completing their core job responsibilities. I’m not saying meetings aren’t important; they absolutely are. But too many managers put more planning and energy into a meeting than they do the work our meetings are intended to support. We have to keep meetings in their proper place. The first and most critical step to better meetings is to view them as a vehicle that enables people to do their best work. When you start looking at meetings through this lens, the rest of your meeting-related decisions become much easier.

Starting with the belief that a meeting’s purpose is to improve the ability of people to perform, here are three ways to ensure the right things happen once the meeting is adjourned.

Expect active participation from everyone. Effective meetings do not have attendees, they have participants. If your meeting is considered a spectator sport, it’s time to clarify expectations. Active participation includes asking questions, taking notes, and sharing personal insights to improve everyone’s understanding of whatever topic is on the table. Active participation requires preparation, such as reviewing related material or completing pre-meeting assignments.

Active participation does not include looking at your phone, holding side conversations, or multi-tasking. These are signs that people are bored, uninterested, or simply disrespectful. If the meeting organizer has done their part to prepare an engaging agenda, then the rest of the team should honor that commitment by participating.

Focus on what’s important. Effective meetings stay focused. Inevitably, participants will bring up tangential topics. It’s like browsing the internet – you start off searching for something very specific, but get distracted by links to other topics that are somewhat related. Before you know it, your search for a good apple pie recipe has morphed into an hour-long review of bad plastic surgery pics. To keep your meeting on track, you have to recognize when things are getting off topic and step in before it goes too far.

Keep a running list of “parking lot” items; topics that come up, but aren’t germane to the core discussion. These can be tackled offline, or added to the next meeting’s agenda. I once worked with an organization that kept a small bell in the middle of the conference room table. Each participant in a meeting had permission to ring the bell when they felt a discussion was drifting too far off-topic. They then made a note on a white board so the related-but-separate concept wasn’t lost and pulled the team back on track.

Hold people accountable. Discussion of each agenda item should conclude with the assignment of next steps. If a topic doesn’t inherently require one or more specific actions, then it shouldn’t be on the agenda. Simply sharing general information shouldn’t be the focus of a meeting discussion – it should be an email. Remember, the purpose of a meeting is to enable participants to better perform their core job tasks.

If a topic is on your team’s meeting agenda, meaning it’s taking people away from their job, it’s because people need to start (or stop) doing something related to that job. End each meeting with a review of action items. Use this format to keep assignments clear: [Who] will [do what] by [when]. Start each subsequent meeting with a review of the action items from the prior one. Do this consistently, and hold people accountable for fulfilling their commitments.

Workplace meetings aren’t going away anytime soon. Most people consider them a necessary evil. Top teams see them as a critical way to stay focused, united, and moving in the right direction. How your meetings are perceived, and how productive they are, is up to you.

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To Prepare for Your Next Meeting, Just Ask Questions

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questions-2110967_640I’m constantly amazed at how ill-prepared people are for meetings. It doesn’t matter what the meeting is about, who’s in attendance, or what their particular role is – someone always shows up having not done their homework. In my opinion, a lack of preparation indicates a level of disrespect for the organization, the task at hand, and other peoples’ time. It also makes you look foolish.

There may indeed be instances when preparation is difficult. Last minute additions to the agenda, for instance, can put you at a disadvantage. Unclear expectations can lead you to focus on the wrong kind of preparation. Sometimes, you just have a hard time getting your hands on the necessary information. But, far too often, a lack of preparation isn’t due to any of these; it’s simply something people neglect to do. We assume we can walk into a meeting and wing it. Sometimes it works out. Many times, it doesn’t.

To avoid the issues of embarrassment, wasted time, and meaningless discussions, meeting organizers would do well to structure their gatherings appropriately. This includes having the right kind of meeting, as well as incorporating the right elements throughout. But to foster effective communication, everyone should engage in at least a modest level of preparation for each meeting topic. All you have to do is focus on the basics. Just ask, and answer, a series of questions.

Questions are the primary tool of an effective leader. By simply asking questions, we open up discussion, inspire new ways of thinking, and invite change. It’s not those who provide answers who create engagement, but those who ask questions. And there’s no better place to ask questions than during your team meetings. Here are a few you might consider.

WHO: Who are the key players in this task or project? Who are influencers? Who are detractors? Who has a particular role to play or information to provide?

WHAT: What is going on? What are the significant events that brought us to this discussion? What needs to change? What steps need to be taken going forward?

WHEN: When did significant events take place? When do we have to make a decision? When can we expect members to complete their assigned tasks?

WHERE: Where can information be found? Where should our focus be? Where do our significant opportunities and challenges lie?

WHY: Why is this topic important? Why is action warranted? Why should we care? Why is the right person to handle it?

HOW: How should we approach this? How can we make this continues or ceases to take place? How can we ensure compliance or action? How can we take advantage of the situation we’re in?

The next time you facilitate a meeting, try asking more than you tell. Before you attend your next meeting as a participant, prepare by reviewing the available materials and asking some questions. Jot them down…and ask them.

How well is questioning used in your team meetings? Do you have some go-to questions that help stimulate discussion and discovery? How else do you prepare for an effective meeting? I invite you to share your experience.

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Do Your Meetings Disappoint? Try Adding These 3 Elements

Posted on by Scott

king-penguin-384252_640I don’t know about you, but I’m sick of bad meetings. I’m tired of listening to a talking head drone on about topics I already know about, have no interest in, or have no influence over. I’m tired of being bored, uninspired, and generally less informed than when the meeting started. In short, I’m tired of wasting my time in unproductive meetings.

And I’m talking about my meetings.

That’s right, the meetings I’ve presided over lately have been some of the worst. My team counts on me for direction, information, and motivation. As their leader, it’s my job to ensure that our interactions provide them with what they need to enthusiastically conquer the world, or at least their weekly objectives. And to this point, I’ve generally failed them. I’ve allowed our weekly meetings to devolve into something we all tolerate rather than something we look forward to.

That’s unfortunate, because team members should look forward to the opportunity to gather together. Team meetings should be sacred – events cherished for their ability to unite the team, recharge the batteries, and refine the mission. They should be something people enjoy, not something they endure. That’s my charge as the leader. I’m the one who has to make sure that happens.

In particular, there are three elements that have been missing from most of my team meetings. These elements are concepts that I preach about on a regular basis, but have failed to consistently incorporate into my team’s meetings. Shame on me.

  1. Focus: If there’s any one thing that defines leadership, it’s providing focus. Most people spend their day in one of two ways. They either rush from task to task, desperately trying to put out fires; or they wander from task to task, aimlessly wiling away the hours until it’s time to head home. Without focus, people are left to figure out on their own what’s most important at any given time. It’s the job of the leader to provide that focus. Team meetings are a key vehicle to accomplish that. Meetings present an opportunity to align the efforts of the team, to get the group’s collective effort channeled in the right direction. It’s a chance for everyone to hear, right from the horse’s mouth, what their priorities should be right now. Focus clears away the clutter and confusion that accompanies competing agendas. Meetings should always clarify focus.
  2. Interaction: A team cannot succeed together unless they work together. Working together requires communication. Whether your team’s focus is the accomplishment of sales goals, completing a project, or solving a particular problem; interaction is critical. Team members who don’t regularly interact with each other miss out on the whole purpose of having a team. Team members are meant to work with each other. Not just in close proximity to each other or just on related projects, but with each other. That requires interaction, and team meetings are a great way to facilitate that. Meetings should be a time when people come together to learn from each other and collaborate. Nothing solidifies the bonds of a team more than working together to solve the same problem or achieve the same goal. Meetings should always foster interaction.
  3. Accountability: Another core aspect of leadership is the application of accountability. Without it, commitments are often forgotten, ignored, or minimized. Top performers love to win. They love moving forward and achieving the goal. For that reason, they relish accountability. Want to see your best employees scale back their efforts? Drop the ball when it comes to accountability. Letting things slide is a surefire way to lose the commitment of your top performers. Why should they continue working so hard when others are regularly let off the hook? Team meetings are a great way to establish a culture of accountability. Make sure to clarify expectations before the meeting is adjourned. Follow up as necessary and be prepared to conduct an accountability check as part of the next one. When everyone is held accountable, everyone will be. Meetings should always provide accountability.

I’ve never claimed to be a great leader, but I’m working on it. I’m going to give more attention to the way I conduct my team meetings going forward. I know that by using them as a vehicle to clarify the team’s focus, foster interaction between the fantastic individuals that make up the staff, and providing an appropriate level of accountability; I can help move the whole group forward. That’s what leadership is all about.

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Four Meetings You Should Be Having Now

Posted on by Scott

workplace-1245776_640Just as there are plenty of meetings that don’t need to take place, there are times when it’s vitally important to bring the team together. Certain things need to be handled in a group setting, not via email or a series of one-on-one conversations. For these, you need to hold a meeting.

You may need to hold an information-sharing meeting. In this case, you have something that needs to be communicated in a way that ensures everyone gets the same message. Emails can be interpreted in a variety of ways. There’s no way to gauge the intensity of emotion while merely reading an email. Individual conversations can easily veer off into the weeds. Discussion of unrelated topics could alter or cloud the information being discussed.

By disseminating information during a meeting, you can ensure everyone hears the same message. You only need one conversation and can easily check for understanding by asking questions as well as gauging body language and facial expressions. Attendees have the opportunity to ask clarifying questions and the entire group benefits from hearing the answers.

You may need to hold a decision-making meeting. Here, there’s a problem to solve and you are looking to gather input. Those in attendance have a stake in the outcome of this decision and should therefore be willing to help make sure all necessary information is provided so that the best possible move can be settled on. The interaction of the group is important. Stakeholders will have differing opinions and the interplay of various viewpoints allows everyone to understand the bigger picture.

Decisions could be made by the group, via a vote or compromise, or by the leader after considering all potential inputs. Attendees should understand the role they are to play and the timeline of the decision being made so that critical information is not withheld or delayed. By including everyone in the meeting, no feels left out and all should agree to support the decision once made.

You may need to hold a brainstorming meeting. These meetings are designed to generate ideas and bring out the creativity in people. A meeting such as this could be held as a precursor to making a decision or to help specify details related to decisions already made. Allowing people to innovate in a group setting helps solidify team bonds, boost engagement, and ramp up energy levels.

Brainstorming can be difficult to facilitate, especially if participants have no foreknowledge of the task. Be sure to prepare people ahead of time by providing as much information as possible and allowing time for individuals to research and develop ideas on their own. Once the group is together, this will provide a head start to idea generation and fertile ground for group interaction.

You may need to hold a skill-development meeting. Team meetings are a great opportunity for coaching. Participants can improve their skill set either by taking an active role in skill practice or by observing and providing feedback. Learning from the example of peers is a great way to speed up skill development, especially when the trial-and-error aspect of practice is shared.

Facilitating skill-development meetings can be tricky and requires adequate preparation on the part of the meeting facilitator. Make sure to plan enough time for everyone to participate. Ensure any job aids or necessary materials are on hand. And be ready to demonstrate the skill yourself in order to provide attendees with an example to work from.

There are definitely times when a meeting is not the right solution; but there are plenty of times when a meeting is just what the team needs. Use meetings effectively so that your team responds enthusiastically, contributing more than just their presence. Do you have regularly-scheduled team meetings? What aspects could be improved?

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