How can I reinvigorate team meetings, so they are dynamic and productive?
Do you sometimes feel as if team members arent fully on board, aren’t engaged?
Are people so caught up in operational work that they aren’t connecting with what needs to be done at a strategic level?
Have changed ways of working made it more difficult to run meetings that are focussed and dynamic? Do you find it challenging to make the best use of precious meeting time, whether online or in person ?
Are you facing difficult decisions and want team members’ inputs but you’re concerned that inviting input will require too much discussion, might lead to conflict, might delay progress?
What if you found a way to give everyone on the team an opportunity to contribute in meetings, to come up with fresh ideas, in a productive way?
There is a way.
A way to transform your meetings and ignite fresh thinking.
A way to involve people in developing plans and making decisions while keeping the interaction focussed and effective.
Using the Thinking Environment framework can encourage and focus discussion and lead to more collaborative and creative problem-solving by the team, and help you make better decisions.
How does it work?
The Thinking Environment is an framework which helps people do their finest thinking individually and together, by creating certain enabling conditions. At the heart of this approach are the observations of Nancy Kline (founder of Time To Think Ltd) that “The quality of everything we do depends on the quality of the thinking we do first”, and that “The quality of our thinking depends on the way we treat each other while we are thinking”.
The conditions that can generate the finest thinking (known as The Ten Components) are: Attention, Equality, Ease, Appreciation, Encouragement, Feelings, Information, Difference, Incisive Questions, and Place. While any one of these components (or behaviours) can have a powerful effect, the presence of all ten working together gives this approach its transformative impact.
The “Building Blocks” is the term used for tools that can be used to create a Thinking Environment in meetings. These tools are: Thinking Pairs, Dialogue, Rounds and Open Discussion, and each of these can be used to give people an opportunity to think well and to listen well together. You can learn about and experience these tools in the “Build a Thinking Environment Programme” and the “Unlock Your Team’s Best Thinking” programme. Applying the principles and tools to meetings and interactions can transform your team culture.
How can you keep team meetings focussed and productive?
Do you find it challenging to keep people focussed on what you’re trying to achieve? Does the discussion sometimes go off track or get derailed?
The lack of focus may be caused by the way the agenda is structured. Often, a meeting agenda is designed based on topics or items, rather than focussing on the question(s) the team needs to pay attention to, the question that if answered will help to resolve the issue.
As you plan for a meeting, and think about the outcome you need from the meeting, what question could you include on the agenda to encourage people to focus their attention? What question could you offer to people to help them focus on what really matters?
Inviting people to consider a question can spark fresh thinking, it can drive discovery. As Nancy Kline has observed, “the mind works best in the presence of a question “(Time To Think 2009). Rather than planning your meeting around topics or items, what if you identified the key question(s) the team needs to think about?
Could this approach make online meetings better?
One of the most disruptive changes in recent years has been the move from meetings held in-person to online interaction. It’s challenging to create the sense of human “connection” online.
Would you like a way to help people feel connected and engaged in a virtual meeting?
What could your team agree and commit to so that you meet in an online place for a more engaging and productive interaction? A place where everyone feels heard. A place where the time spent together matters, where the meeting matters.
Using the Thinking Environment framework can build a connected and collaborative space, for meetings that are both structured and easeful. And adding to this by designing a meeting agenda around questions, your meetings will focus on what really matters, on what needs attention.
At the heart of the Thinking Environment is what Nancy Kline has described (and the title of her book published in 2020) as “The Promise That Changes Everything…I Won’t Interrupt You”.
This simple yet profound commitment, this promise, is what frees people up to respond to the agenda question with their best thinking. When you know that a meeting is set up so that everyone will have an equal opportunity to contribute, when you know you won’t be interrupted when it’s your turn to speak, when you know others are listening with interest, you’ll find you can think with greater confidence, you can think more creatively.
Creating an online meeting environment that is full of ease, of encouragement, of equality for people is powerful. As team members learn to listen to each other with interest, promising not to interrupt when each other takes their turn, it will transform a meeting to one with real “connection”.
What difference can a Thinking Environment approach make for your team?
When you create a thinking environment, where everyone’s thinking matters, you can gather knowledge, expertise and information from everyone, and this will help you and the team make better decisions.
You may hear contributions that you hadn’t anticipated, that could spark ideas or new solutions. As everyone listens to different ideas and opinions, it can shift perspectives and build the capacity to collaborate and innovate. It can build adaptability and accountability.
The conditions of a Thinking Environment help create a place where people encourage and appreciate each other. Learning new ways to interact with colleagues, and un-learning unhelpful behaviours, transforms how people relate to each other. This environment builds trust among team members and leads to a psychologically safe space where people are more likely to make suggestions or to take risks. It can build a work environment where people have the courage to speak up, it can help you avoid the danger of group-think.
Using this approach creates a space that feels safe, that is non-judgemental, where people can feel energised, enthusiastic, and empowered. They can come up with new ideas, they can go to the edge of their thinking.
A thinking environment is a place where innovation can flourish.
How can a Thinking Environment approach lead to better decisions and outcomes?
Do you want to explore all your options before you make a decision? Have you all the information you need?
Gathering inputs and ideas from everyone on the team, not just hearing from those with the loudest voices, can unlock fresh thinking and new possibilities. When people listen to each other in a “yes-and“ frame of mind rather than judging or reacting, it can spark fresh ideas. Hearing all the voices in the room may uncover valuable information or may alert you to an information deficit you need to address before a decision can be made.
Encouraging the team to question any assumptions they may be making can lead to breakthrough thinking.
When a team is given the opportunity to hear everyone’s thinking and to work together, it can lay the foundation that will support the next stages, as the team moves to execution or implementation after the discussion or decision.
If people feel involved in what’s happening, they’re more likely to engage in what needs to be done next. Involving a team or group in strategy development or in decision-making can build support for the implementation that follows on from that. Even for those that may hold alternative views, having the opportunity to contribute, to feel heard, can bring them on board.
Often a meeting outcome will need to be communicated to others, e.g. to cascade to other levels in the organisation. When people recognise that everyone’s thinking is being valued, it enables a team to feel connected with the outcome and be more supportive of what needs to be communicated to others.
What difference can the Thinking Environment make for you as the leader of the team?
The Thinking Environment approach offers you a way to access the knowledge and experience of everyone on your team. Listening to people’s different perspectives, their insights and ideas will help you understand where people are coming from. It might shift your own perspective and might spark new thinking or ideas for you. Having the courage and curiosity as a leader to explore what you don’t know you don’t know, by listening to your team, can open up possibilities and innovative solutions
As a leader, this approach encourages you to do your own high-quality thinking , and also to challenge anything that could be limiting your thinking.
It encourages diversity of thinking. As you listen to others, you may hear views an contributions that reassure you the team supports your plans. Or you may hear alternative views or questions that lead to to deepen your thinking or take a fresh look at your options.
You can use this approach to generate quality thinking and create new team behaviours that can have a lasting impact.
You can use it to reinvigorate meetings and connect with and engage the team in what needs to be done. It can help you make better decisions and lead to better outcomes.
By creating a Thinking Environment in which everyone’s views are valued and appreciated, it can shift their perspective on the problem and their view of it and can build their capacity to work together. By allowing different voices and views be heard, in an environment that feels safe and non-judgemental, the team will do their best thinking individually and collectively.
Building a team culture where people can think independently can generate new ideas and solutions. When people listen to each other with interest and value different views and opinions, it can unlock possibilities and allow fresh thinking to emerge.
Does this sound like something you value as a leader? Do you want to transform your meetings in this way?
If you’d like to find out more about how to implement the Thinking Environment approach in your team or your organisation, schedule a free Discovery Call with me now.
