Nicely put, Birgitt, The other classic time waster is the 'consultation meeting' in which senior managers invite 'participation'.
Which usually means, 'we talk at you, we make it look like we're interested in what you've got to say, and then we effectively ignore what you've said'. That's a bit time waster whether you have 6 people in the room or 500. Michael Wood | Dear?Raffi,I used to promote highly participatory meetings. As you read this invitation, you will discover that I have shifted my perspective. First, a little background to why I promoted highly participative meetings.I am not willing to be in meetings that are time wasters and yet I am willing to be in meetings that take a long time. What is the difference? Meetings that I consider to be time wasters are meetings in which I sit and listen to a presentation with no opportunity for conversation. Time waster meetings, in my opinion, are the kind of meetings in which I conclude that the presenter could just have sent a memo. I end up wondering why it was necessary to have a meeting and waste the time of all of the participants. Have you had similar experiences? The meetings that I am willing to attend, and even like attending, are meetings designed with the participants in mind, to accomplish a business or development goal. They have one characteristic in common. The facilitator creates the time and space for lots of participation. There is value to the participant in such a meeting?the value of idea generation, idea discussion, innovation, solution generation, and of course the opportunity to feel heard where it matters. Some of my favorite highly participative meeting processes are Open Space Technology, Whole Person Process Facilitation, Dynamic Facilitation, World Caf?, and Appreciative Inquiry. In our Genuine Contact program, we teach two of these meeting methods. So, why I have I said my perspective has shifted? I continue to promote highly participatory meetings. And, in looking more deeply, I realize that there is so much more to the successful experience and outcomes of these kinds of meetings that goes beyond simply being ?highly participatory?. When we invite people into these meetings, we are inviting them, for a period of time, to engage in leadership. We ask them to engage in leadership for their ideas, for taking a stand, and for taking leadership to express themselves. And they do. And so my perspective has shifted away from thinking of these meetings just as participatory meetings. I now recognize them as meetings to engage leadership. If I think of participation as the goal, I now recognize that I do a disservice to the full dynamic that is taking place. People are not being invited to a participatory meeting. They are invited to engage in leadership?.even if only for a short period of time. February Training:?Highly Participatory Meetings vs. Engaging in Leadership >> Register Here Join us this week for our free?February training to take a deeper look at the relationship of highly participatory meetings and engaging leadership.We will explore: - why nourishing a culture of leadership is critical for business success - simple ways you can nourish a culture of leadership when working with or leading organizations - the benefits of shifting to a broader perspective of engaging in leadership when we lead highly participatory meetings or have these meetings take place in our organizations >> Register Here If you're unable to make the call live, be sure to register so we know you're interested in receiving the recording when it is available. Warm Regards, Birgitt Williams | ******* _______________________________________________ OSList mailing list To post send emails to [email protected] To unsubscribe send an email to [email protected] To subscribe or manage your subscription click below: http://lists.openspacetech.org/listinfo.cgi/oslist-openspacetech.org
