Blind Spots and Meeting Challenges

I have been talking with executives and senior managers across a range of businesses. They have expressed various frustrations with the meetings they lead. Some see a lack of engagement. Others struggle with a few dominant voices and discussions that seem to go nowhere. Finally, some mention challenging virtual meetings.

In each case, they describe what they see going wrong. But the cause and the solution often lies in what they don’t “see” about some familiar properties of their meetings. Here are some of the specific blind spots by challenge:

Challenge and blind spot:

Lack of engagement

• Number of participants

Dominant voices and ineffective discussions

• Unclear objective for the discussion
• No discussion plan
• Poorly positioned presentations

Virtual meeting participation

• No discussion plan

Below are brief explanations of each blind spot and recommendations for how to avoid them.

Number of participants. A meeting of more than seven (or eight) is technically a large group meeting and special attention should be given to how the discussion is designed to include everyone. Otherwise, participants know intuitively that not all will have a chance to speak and begin to pay less attention. To avoid this, make sure all have a chance to speak at least once every 10 minutes or so. This is particularly true for virtual meeting participants. Processes I call 1-2-All, Go-Around and Three Reaction Questions among others can help with this. See other posts on LinkedIn or see my video A Secret to Leading Great Meetings for more information.

Unclear objective. Too often, an agenda lists only a topic but does not give a purpose or intended outcome for subjects to be addressed. Participants may have different understandings of what is relevant to some discussion. Some comments may be off topic. Some people will stay quiet. There may be little building on each other’s ideas. The solution here is simple: One of the most important things you can do to improve discussions is to provide a clear, actionable description of each agenda item. This is particularly crucial for virtual meetings and those that include participants from different cultures. I have a tool I call FATT (Focused, Actionable, , Timely, Timed) for specific guidance on framing agenda items.

No discussion plan.  Most people lead meetings with little thought to how to engage others in the work of the meeting. After all, we know how to “meet,” right? Well, it’s not that simple and the larger the group, the more important it is to have a plan for involving others in the discussion. For example, some people naturally think as they speak while others need time to gather their thoughts before speaking. In a discussion, you may never hear from those who need to think before speaking because the conversation follows from the reactions to those who speak first. Important insights may be lost. You also may have trouble managing the discussion in the time available. Instead, you can design your discussion to include moments for reflection before talk begins. Also, appoint a time-keeper to alert the group when time may be running out. Finally, go around the group to hear the “likes” before the “concerns” on some point. Even your choice of a table and how you sit can effect discussion. The tools and processes I call 1-2-All, PALPaR, Three Reaction Questions, Seating Arrangements and Four Responsibilities can all help. For more ideas, see my video on Leading Difficult Discussions. There’s also a chapter in my book dedicated to how you design discussions.

Presentations. Poorly planned presentations can also impact engagement. Any presentation longer than 10 (maybe 15) minutes will put your participants in passive, “student” mode. Too often, participants aren’t told, up front, what they should be focused on and the presentation ends with a request for “any comments?” Instead, make sure the presentation’s purpose is clear and begin by identifying questions to keep in mind as participants listen. See the tool I call Presentations in Perspective for more ideas and check out my video: Using Presentations to Serve the Work of Your Meeting.

Virtual meeting participation . Virtual meetings pose a number of challenges to effective participation. Participation is even more challenging when some participants are in one room together and others are at remote locations. To overcome this challenge start with a clear agenda so all will know the progress of the meeting and then use tools like Go-Around and Visible Note Taking to include all in the discussion. The Hybrid Meeting Checklist can help balance participation when a few participants are remote from others. (See the chapter in my book on virtual meetings for more suggestions.)

For more information, see Leading Great Meetings: How to Structure Yours for Success.