Commonalities of Companies with Long Meetings | Thinking Organization Techniques to End Meetings in 40 Minutes with a 'Single Sheet of Paper'
Thinking organization techniques to align a team with a 'single sheet of paper' seen from 18 years of management experience (1)
'Meetings are too long.'
This is a complaint heard in many companies.
A meeting scheduled for an hour turns into 90 minutes before you know it.
And still, no conclusion is reached.
'We're out of time for today, so let's continue next time...'
Many of you have likely had that experience.
I have served as a manager in the retail industry for 18 years, managing teams of up to 20 people.
In that time, I have experienced countless meetings.
And at one point, I realized something.
Companies with long meetings have something in common.
It was a very simple thing.
'They only talk about the past.'
That is it.
About this series
This article is
the first in a series titled
'Thinking organization techniques to align a team with a "single sheet of paper" seen from 18 years of management experience.'
This is the first installment of the series.
Drawing on my 18 years of management experience in the retail industry, I introduce
'single sheet of paper' thinking to organize meetings, reading, and management.
The foundation is the concept of
solution-focused thinking.
By focusing not on the problem, but on
'the next step,'teams start moving in surprising ways.
Companies with long meetings only talk about the 'past'
Many meetings begin like this.
・Last month's sales report
・Sharing activity results
・Reviewing troubles
Of course, these are necessary.
However, the problem is that
most of the meeting time is spent on 'explaining the past'.
If you break down meeting time, it has this structure.
Explanation of the past: 50 minutes
Discussion of the future: 10 minutes
With this, it is difficult to reach a conclusion.
This is because the purpose of a meeting is
to decide the future
.
Information about the past is merely material for thinking about the future.
However, in many meetings, too much time is spent explaining that material.
Finish explaining the past 'before the meeting'
What I did to change meetings is very simple.
Do not talk about the past in the meeting.
That is all.
Specifically, I did this.
Have past reports summarized in advance.
And tell the meeting participants just one thing.
'Please read it beforehand.'
That is all.
At first, people were surprised.
“Don't you need to explain things in the meeting?”
But I answered like this.
“Explanations are unnecessary. I will only ask about the parts I don't understand.”
Then, the way meeting time is used changes.
Past explanations: 10 minutes
Future discussions: 50 minutes
With just this, the quality of the meetings changed significantly.
Decide that a 60-minute meeting will 'end in 60 minutes'
There is one more thing I put into practice.
That is
sticking to the meeting time
itself.
I used to have meetings that often wouldn't end even in 60 minutes.
Because of that, I used to schedule them like this.
“It's a 60-minute meeting, but let's set aside about 80 minutes.”
Thinking about it now, this is a complete defeat.
So I made a decision.
A 60-minute meeting must end in 60 minutes.
Even if it's in the middle, it ends.
At first, some people were flustered.
“We haven't reached a conclusion yet...”
Even so, I ended the meeting.
Then, something mysterious happens.
Meetings start ending within 60 minutes.
When people have a set end time, they start focusing on that time.
I realized that until now, while I thought I had set an end time, I hadn't actually done so.
The 'One-Sheet' Thinking Organization that Changed Meetings
What further changed the meetings was
the 'one-sheet' thinking organization technique.
It is.
Organizing the opinions and ideas that come up in a meeting onto
a single sheet of paper (or a whiteboard).
Then, the following things happen.
・Misunderstandings are reduced
・Discussions are organized
・Conclusions are reached faster
In fact, in my team,
meetings that used to take 60 minutes started ending within 60 minutes.
Furthermore, when someone at a pharmaceutical company practiced this method,
a meeting that always took 60 minutes without deciding on small steps started ending in 40 minutes.
These are the results that have emerged.
When people talk only with words, their mental images diverge.
However, when you write them down on paper,
everyone can discuss while looking at the same picture.
This is the major reason for shortening meetings.
Summary | Meetings are 'time to decide the future'
Summary | Meetings are 'time to decide the future'
There are common traits among companies where meetings are long.
They are
always talking about the past.
To change your meetings, you need these three things:
・Share past reports in advance
・Discuss the future in meetings
・Organize your thoughts on a single sheet of paper
Just doing this will significantly change the quality of your meetings.
The purpose of a meeting is not to share information.
It is to decide the future.
If your workplace has
“meetings that are too long”
“nothing gets decided”
If you have these concerns, please give this a try.
Next Time Preview
This article is the first in the
“Thinking Organization Techniques to Align Your Team with a Single Sheet of Paper”series.
Next time, I will talk about the core of this series:
What is “Single Sheet” thinking?
I will discuss this topic.
Why does a “single sheet of paper” organize your thoughts?
And why does it get the team moving?
I will explain the mechanism behind it.
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In this series, I introduce the
thinking organization techniques to align a team with a single sheet of paperthat I have practiced during my 18 yearsof experience as a
manager in the distribution industry.
You can find the previous articles here.
Part 1
Commonalities of companies with long meetings
Part 2
What is single-sheet thinking?
Part 3
What is the single-sheet reading technique, summary reading?
Part 4
What is the exchange diary daily report that gets subordinates to take initiative?
Part 5
What is the single-sheet planner technique for running PDCA daily?
Part 7
The origin of single-sheet thinking: What is everything is circle thinking?