2 Reasons why meeting outcomes are biased and how to solve it
When you are in a meeting it’s most of the time the same people who are talking and the same people who are being silent. There are two main reasons why that is. Based on your function in the company or your character trait.
People with a high rank in the company or in the meeting are people who will generally take the lead, come up with ideas and make decisions. Employees who just started their job for instance will keep quiet and won’t come forward with their ideas because they feel like they haven’t built up enough seniority yet in order to gain respect and validation.
When looking at the character trait, we can divide human population in extroverts and introverts. Bear in mind, no one is only extroverted or only introverted. We can be both, but generally leaning to one or the other. Also depending on the situation you might be more introverted but find yourself pretty extroverted at times.
Extroverts are more likely to talk in meetings because this is where they gather their energy from. They like to be in the spotlights and are more likely to think while talking. They gain inspiration by talking. And because of this, their ideas are often not clearly formed and thus not pushed through.
Introverts don’t like to be in the spotlights and you’ll probably find them scribbling down notes of what’s being said in the meeting together with their thoughts. They process their ideas internally and think before they speak. Introverts will often speak up about their ideas though when being asked directly.
The loudest voices rarely represent the majority. They’re usually speaking for the extremes. You won’t understand the views of a group until you’ve invited the quiet voices into the discussion. Don’t mistake silence for disengagement. It’s often a sign of deep reflection. - Adam Grant
Those two main reasons make that a meeting doesn’t have the outcome that you intended:
Introverts won’t tell their ideas. Only when asked directly even though they might have the best ideas in the room.
People in a higher position will likely have ideas which might be good or bad. Because of this higher position people might have difficulty expressing that they are not fond of the idea, so they won’t speak up.
The higher position person has the end decision and might go for his/ her own not very inspirational idea.
So even when you are able to give the introverts and the people in a lower position their voice, it can be difficult to choose which idea to go with because of rank, peer pressure, emotions,..
When giving everyone the same colour sticky notes and the same marker, you will see that things will change in the meeting for the better.
Everyone is being heard, equally
When everyone writes their ideas down on separate sticky notes, and when people are given the time to stick them up on the wall all together you can see that everyone’s opinions and ideas are out there. It’s visual, it’s clear, it’s in front of everyone’s eyes to see without having the idea that you’re standing in the spotlight.
The sticky notes are anonymous so there’s no difference in ranking or peer pressure.
Not knowing who wrote what means that no one is biased.
Things to keep in mind:
Pay attention to handwriting. You don’t want people to ask what it says so that the writer has to show his/her identity.
Pay attention to content. It’s more or less the same as the previous remark but it should be clear what you mean by choosing your wording carefully. Make sure that people can not interpret the content in different ways.
Write one idea per sticky note
Everyone gets the time to structure their thoughts.
As said before extroverts are more likely to think while they talk. Even though that is a perfect way of brainstorming themselves, it’s often better for everyone to have a few moments of silence to ourselves before jumping to ideas, conclusions,..
The discussion is visualized
Most people are really not good at remembering what everyone said. On top of that when someone shares an idea everyone processes information differently, perceive it differently combined with how we feel towards that person and in that specific moment it can become really difficult to make decisions based on facts.
It is way easier to make decisions based on facts which are laid before them, when the discussion is visualized in sticky note form.
After having everything visualized and up on the wall it is important to do something with all this content.
Vote.
Hand out voting dots (little round stickers) and let people vote on the ideas that they personally think is important for them. Doesn’t matter if they put all their voting dots on their own ideas. It’s important to get rid of the voting dots.
When this is done you can make a pyramid where the top voted ones go on the peak of the pyramid, the lowest voted ideas (1 dot) go on the base of the pyramid. The rest of the unvoiced ideas is no longer needed.
This way you again visualize the top voted ideas and you can see the top priorities instantly for that group. Everyone is being heard, everyone got their say.
It is such an easy way of collaborating, yet very little companies use this technique to get more out of their meetings. In doing so meetings are more fun, engaging and productive.
Need I say more?
In my newsletters I will talk about:
How facilitating can improve your workplace
Improve team productivity
Improve happiness at work
Sustainable workplaces
Innovation and Design Thinking
Fixing team collaborations
More information
https://blog.clickmeeting.com/how-introverts-and-extroverts-act-differently-in-meetings