Life+Work

Looking for More Time in the Day? Focus Your 1:1 Meetings

It doesn't seem to matter whether the economy is booming and work is pouring in, or the economy is down and you're scrambling to keep clients and get everything done with a lean staff. There is a perpetual Big Squeeze for time. Nearly every business leader I coached last week was facing the same dilemma: where do you find more time when you've been over-committed for years and there's nothing left of your life to squeeze more time from?

One of the executives I spoke with last week described how her organization had advised everyone to block out 30% of their time for the unexpected. Sounded like a wise plan to me. But she reported her "unexpected" workload regularly far exceeded that 30% figure. When I probed on exactly what the unexpected work looked like, it turned out that recent layoffs and reorganizations were causing even more impromptu 1:1 meetings and phone calls than usual. "It's where I lose the most time every day," she told me. "People drop by my office unexpectedly, my calendar is crowded with 1:1 meetings. I never know how long these things are going to take. They eat up my whole day."

How much of your day is spent in 1:1 meetings? You might not have even considered talking with one other person a meeting, but every time someone calls you on the phone or stops by your office to "run something by you," bring you up to speed or get your advice, it's a little mini meeting.

Like any other meeting, a 1:1 meeting can benefit from a little structure. Most of us let our 1:1 meetings be conversations. We let them start and finish organically, with some wandering in the middle. We may or may not leave with clear result in hand. They typically take up as much time as we scheduled or as much time as we can spare.

You can add just enough structure to save precious time by asking one simple question at the beginning of any 1:1 meeting: what would we/you like to get out of this conversation? Asking this question establishes the goal of the meeting. Knowing the answer lends just enough structure to keep both of you focused and, most importantly, know when you've talked enough and the meeting can end. I regularly end meetings early and keep my impromptu meetings brief by taking a moment to identify the goal.

Tips on how to implement this simple technique:

• Ask this question as one of the opening lines of your meeting or early in the conversation when you find yourself wondering what the other person wants from you. For example:
  • "Hi Mark, good to see you! So, what's this meeting about? What were you hoping we'd accomplish?"
  • "So Helen, it sounds like you're concerned about how the schedule is slipping. What would you like to get out of this conversation with me? Was there specific advice or input you wanted? Or did you just want to give me a heads up?"
  • "Hey Jerett, thanks for meeting with me. Before we start, I'd love to clarify a couple of things I hope we walk out of here with. I'd like to get your agreement on whether we're ready to move forward with X, and then get your input on Y."
• Typical goals for 1:1 meetings include
  
  • sharing information so that one of you can go take action
  • reaching an agreement or making a decision together
  • creating a list of next steps
• Use the goal to keep your conversation on track. Often people provide unnecessary context, raise unrelated issues, or just lose track of what they're talking about. You can use the goal as a reference point to keep the conversation on purpose. For example,
  • "I'm not sure I need all this detail right now. If what you want is my agreement on X, let me just ask you this last question..."

Go save some time! Let me know how adding goals to your 1:1 meetings works for you.

Key to Efficient Consensus Decision-Making For Community or Business

I was just watching NBC News and the "Making a Difference" segment caught my attention: a clothing swap being organized in my home state of Michigan (readers in the US can watch the clip through Hulu). Whenever the car industry tanks, it takes the whole Michigan economy down with it. In April, Michigan had the highest rate of unemployment in the country, 12.9%. What struck me about the clothing swap story was how the idea was spreading--more and more women were choosing to organize their own swaps. I think it's the upside of a down economy. I don't wish unemployment on anyone, but watching people come together to share resources in creative ways can only be good for community and the planet.

The news segment left me wondering what the organizing meetings looked like. I have been working and living collaboratively in a variety of ways since I was 19 years old (see About Me on this blog site). If you've ever been in a community group or been part of a team at work, you already know that making decisions with other people is not always the easiest thing. In particular, consensus decision making can be the most time-consuming and painful--though the benefit of having a really well thought out decision that everyone buys into is often worth the effort.

Nolo Press, dedicated to making US law accessible to everyone, just published a fabulous new book The Sharing Solution: How to Save Money, Simplify Your Life & Build Community that covers how to share everything from clothing to child care to housing. (I was honored to be interviewed and have the story of my own co-housing arrangement and philosophies included in the book.)The Sharing Solution includes all kinds of helpful questions, considerations, checklists and processes for making agreements together. I have been a professional meeting facilitator for over 15 years now, so I read the chapter on "Making Decisions as a Group" with great curiosity. The chapter contains a good overview of the consensus process--what it is, how it works, why to use it--and includes a clear succinct flowchart created by Seeds for Change.

I was immediately struck by what it was missing: the number one tool in my experience for reaching consensus quickly and efficiently, which Interaction Associates (IA) coined Build Up/Eliminate. In essence, what could we add to the proposal (build up) or modify (eliminate) to make it work for everyone?

I've learned from and worked with Interaction Associates since the mid-90's. The founders of IA created the very first meeting process that went beyond Robert's Rules of Order--truly a gift to the planet, in my opinion, having suffered through many a long meeting "managed" by Robert's Rules. I like IA's definition of consensus (see page 23 of their eBook Fully Engaged: Essential People Strategies for Tough Times), which includes two key elements:

• Everyone has had a chance "to give their opinion and to understand the implications for various options."
• Everyone "is willing to support and help implement [the decision]"

So what do you do when everyone has weighed in and there are a few people that just can't live with the decision? Strong-arm or guilt them into going along so they don't hold up the group? Repeat your point of view over and over until you exhaust them? Yeah, you've probably lived through these "techniques" yourself. They don't produce genuine buy-in. They are very likely to damage relationships in the long run.

Here is a faster, more genuine route to consensus, based on IA's Build Up/Eliminate process. It helps the group slow down briefly to reach consensus much faster:

• Ask the few people who are not in full agreement with everyone else:
  • What specifically concerns you or doesn't work for you about this proposal?
    • Listen with an open mind. Are they seeing something you've missed? How is their perspective different from yours? 
    • Listen for any differences or misunderstandings in how words or details of the proposal are being defined.
    • Listen for their underlying interest. While specific positions might be hard to reconcile, sometimes everyone has the same common underlying interest. Agreements are easier to build from those common starting points.
  • Is there anything about this proposal that we could modify that would get you on board?
    • Sometimes this is as easy as adding in clarifying detail or modifying the wording of the proposal slightly. In the battle to make our point heard, we overlook these easy opportunities.
    • If the people with concerns don't have suggestions, open it up to the group.
• Make sure that the suggested changes work for everyone.

A little extra time spent asking focused questions like these will net you stronger, more genuine consensus and a well-thought out decision everyone can walk out ready to support and help implement.