Most business people don’t like meetings.
I participate regularly in a very different kind of meeting, and it occurs to me that incorporating some of the characteristics of my kind of meetings into business meetings could be good for all concerned. I sit in my meetings on a regular basis, usually weekly. I choose to attend them. I learn a lot from them and they help me do my work better.
They are a place where I come together with others who are focused on working towards a common goal, where we share honestly with each other what’s been working and what hasn’t been working as we’ve each been doing our work. We can get feedback from each other if we ask for it, and we learn about our own work from hearing other’s stories about theirs.
Different people lead the meetings each week, so no one person dominates. We have an agreed-upon structure, and we meet monthly to discuss that structure, to see if it’s working for us. We tweak and adapt it as necessary to make the group work, and sometimes one or another of us has to give up something we feel strongly about for the good of the group.
Some days some of us are strong, and bring good information into our meetings from which others benefit. Other days it is the “weakest” among us who, in talking about what’s going on with them, bring us all an unexpected piece of learning.
The level of honesty in these meetings continually impresses me – honesty that is there because we have agreed ahead of time that we will focus on our common goal and not be distracted from that. We have agreed not to gossip about or criticize each other, and it is up to each of us to speak when we choose to. We treat each other with courtesy and respect, even when we have something difficult to say to each other.
We have agreed to be governed by principles that, for instance, help us raise the level of the conversation above the personalities in the room at any given time – and believe me, sometimes there are some pretty strong personalities in the room.
There is a spiritual basis for these meetings, but it is up to each of us to define what that spiritual basis looks like for ourselves. We believe that it is that spiritual connection (that we are each free to participate in or not, as we see fit) that helps us be successful.
One of the things business people repeatedly bemoan is the fact that they have to sit in too many meetings, meetings that are painful and unproductive. If this is you, call me - I’d be happy to share more with you about having meetings like these that I’ve described.