Chapter 3: Leaving Your Seat 10 Minutes In

Chapter 3 is all about the moment the middle-aged guy stands in front of the whiteboard.

It's easy to read if you write it as a story about aligning everyone's mental models.

Chapter 3: Leaving Your Seat 10 Minutes In

About 10 minutes had passed since the meeting started.

It was just as I had expected.

The discussion seemed to be moving forward, but it was somehow not quite clicking.

Someone explains something.

Someone else asks a question.

Yet another person adds a supplement.

The conversation is coherent.

However, the perspective seems off.

That was when I stood up from my seat.

I moved to the whiteboard I had brought in.

And the first thing I did wasn't to talk about the equipment.

It was to draw the target area.

Of course, it wasn't an accurate blueprint.

It was a rough map that anyone familiar with the site would understand.

First, I write out the target location.

Then I confirm.

"We're all in agreement that this is the scope for today's discussion, right?"

Then, all the participants' eyes turned to the whiteboard.

For the first time, the meeting, which had been proceeding only with words, had a common map.

What often happens in meetings isn't a lack of knowledge.

It's a misalignment of understanding.

Even if we use the same words, we are picturing different places in our heads.

Even if we think we are pointing to the same equipment, we are actually thinking of different things.

That's why the conversation doesn't click.

It was the same this time.

I am not an expert.

So I can't talk about the technical details.

Instead, I can organize where we are talking about right now.

I write out the target area,

fill in the related locations,

and confirm them one by one.

Then, strangely enough, the conversation that had been scattered until then began to come together little by little.

At that moment, I thought once again.

What is needed in a meeting is not just someone who knows the answer.

Someone who can show the same map is also necessary.

Chapter 1 = Discomfort

Chapter 2 = Preparation

Chapter 3 = Alignment of understanding

I think the flow connects nicely.

* #Visualization
* #AlignmentOfUnderstanding
* #WhiteboardMeeting
* #MeetingImprovement
* #Facilitation
* #ProblemOrganization
* #Communication
* #Teamwork
* #CommonUnderstanding
* #ThinkingSkills