Solve Problems Together Leading Meetings That Matter Marcus Degerman Second Edition
© 2017 Marcus Degerman Author: Marcus Degerman Illustrations: Marcus Degerman Publisher: BoD – Books on Demand, Stockholm, Sweden Print: BoD – Books on Demand, Norderstedt, Germany ISBN: 978-91-7699-623-2
Content INTRODUCTION .......................................................................... 12 SOLVE PROBLEMS TOGETHER ........................................................................ 13 BOOK STRUCTURE ....................................................................................... 15 REALLY SIMPLE TIPS.................................................................... 18 SIMPLE TIPS ................................................................................................ 19 WHY ARE WE HERE? ..................................................................................... 20 WHERE ARE THE TOILETS? ............................................................................ 22 WRITE EVERYTHING UP!................................................................................ 23 1-2-ALL ..................................................................................................... 24 ONE-ACTION MEETINGS ................................................................................ 26 HOW SATISFIED ARE YOU?............................................................................. 28 MORE SIMPLE TIPS ....................................................................................... 31 PREPARE YOUR ORGANIZATION.................................................... 32 PREPARE YOUR ORGANIZATION ...................................................................... 33 TALK ABOUT IT ............................................................................................ 34 SOME GOOD REASONS FOR BETTER MEETINGS ................................................. 35 WHAT IS YOUR MEETING FOCUS? .................................................. 36 A CLEAR FOCUS HELPS ................................................................................. 37 GOAL ......................................................................................................... 40 PROBLEM ................................................................................................... 42 OUTPUTS ................................................................................................... 44 PEOPLE ...................................................................................................... 46 MEETING FOCUS CANVAS ............................................................................. 48 WHY SEND OUT INFORMATION BEFORE THE MEETING?...................................... 51 NO AGENDA ................................................................................................ 53 MORE ON GOAL SETTING AND CONSTRAINTS ................................................... 55 PREPARE YOUR MEETINGS ........................................................... 56 PREPARE YOUR MEETINGS............................................................................. 57 OUTCOME THAT MATTERS............................................................................. 59 MEETING BALANCE ASSESSMENT .................................................................. 61
MEETING BALANCE CANVAS .......................................................................... 66 HOW TO HANDLE PEOPLE WHO HAS THOUGHT MORE ON THE PROBLEM THAN OTHERS? .................................................................................................... 70 WORKING WITH LARGER GROUPS ................................................................... 72 QUESTIONS BRINGS THE MEETING FORWARD ................................................... 76 SOLVING COMPLEX PROBLEMS....................................................................... 77 START MEETINGS WITH A COMMON GOAL AND COLLABORATIVE MINDSET .................................................................................... 79 THE START OF THE MEETING SHOULD HELP PEOPLE FOCUS ............................... 80 CREATE OPENNESS AND REDUCE RESISTANCE.................................................. 82 SIGNIFICANCE ............................................................................................. 84 COMPETENCE ............................................................................................. 86 ACCEPTANCE .............................................................................................. 89 CHECK-INS ................................................................................................. 91 HELP PEOPLE UNDERSTAND ONE ANOTHER ..................................................... 95 MORE ON BUILDING TEAMS AND IMPROVING COLLABORATION ............................ 97 FIVE TYPES OF MEETINGS............................................................. 98 FIVE TYPES OF MEETINGS .............................................................................. 99 INFORMATION MEETINGS ............................................................................ 100 DECISION-MAKING MEETINGS ...................................................................... 105 SYNC-MEETINGS ........................................................................................ 107 PROBLEM-SOLVING MEETINGS .................................................................... 109 PLANNING MEETINGS ................................................................................. 111 VISUALIZE THE PROBLEM........................................................... 114 THE MIDDLE OF THE MEETING ...................................................................... 115 VISUALIZING REDUCES CONFLICTS ............................................................... 117 POWERPOINT IS NOT ENOUGH .................................................................... 119 VISUALIZE PROBLEM AND CONTEXT .............................................................. 121 VISUALIZE DATA......................................................................................... 122 VISUALIZE PROCESSES & SYSTEMS ............................................................... 126 VISUALIZE EVENTS ..................................................................................... 127 VISUALIZE CONCEPTS INSTEAD OF WRITING EVERYTHING ................................. 128 USE COLORS THAT PEOPLE CAN SEE ............................................................. 129 DRAW THE PROBLEM .................................................................................. 131
GET PHYSICAL ........................................................................................... 134 MORE ON VISUALIZING DATA AND PROBLEMS ................................................. 135 FIND AND VISUALIZE INSIGHTS ................................................... 136 HOW DO YOU HELP PEOPLE TO THINK AND SEE NEW PERSPECTIVES? ................ 137 WHAT DID YOU HEAR? ................................................................................ 139 WHEN YOU SEE A CHALLENGE OR OPPORTUNITY... ......................................... 141 HOW TO USE STICKY NOTES ........................................................................ 142 COLORS AND DISTANCE .............................................................................. 144 WHAT ASSUMPTIONS ARE WE MAKING?......................................................... 147 ROUNDS ................................................................................................... 149 CHANGE YOUR GLASSES.............................................................................. 151 MIND MAPPING .......................................................................................... 153 DIALOGUE MAPPING ................................................................................... 154 TRANSACTION MAP .................................................................................... 156 CANVASES ................................................................................................ 159 ONE INSIGHT ............................................................................................ 160 MORE ON FINDING INSIGHTS AND DESIGN THINKING ....................................... 161 CREATE AND VISUALIZE IDEAS .................................................... 162 STAY IN THE BOX ....................................................................................... 163 GENERATE IDEAS BY YOURSELF .................................................................... 165 WAIT UNTIL TOMORROW ............................................................................. 167 USE CONSTRAINTS..................................................................................... 168 MORE ON IDEA GENERATION........................................................................ 170 GET CLEAR OUTPUTS AND DECISIONS ......................................... 171 GATHER IDEAS........................................................................................... 172 CONNECT BACK TO GOAL AND OUTPUTS ....................................................... 173 PRIORITIZE ............................................................................................... 174 VISUALIZE ARGUMENTS .............................................................................. 175 PRIORITY MAP ........................................................................................... 176 PRIORITY MATRIX ....................................................................................... 177 SCORING AND RANKING .............................................................................. 179 DOT-VOTING ............................................................................................. 181 PLAN ....................................................................................................... 183 MOTIVATING CHANGE ................................................................................. 186
GOOD ENOUGH FOR NOW?.......................................................................... 188 ARE WE HEADING IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION? .................................................. 189 THE ROOM MATTERS ................................................................. 191 FURNITURE ............................................................................................... 192 LIGHTING ................................................................................................. 194 WHITEBOARDS .......................................................................................... 195 EQUIPMENT .............................................................................................. 196 MATERIAL ................................................................................................. 197 DISTRIBUTED MEETINGS............................................................ 198 A DISTRIBUTED MEETING WITH 16 PEOPLE .................................................... 199 SAME PRINCIPLES ...................................................................................... 201 IT’S MORE IMPORTANT TO SEE WHAT IS TALKED ABOUT THAN THE PEOPLE ........ 203 EXPECT LESS AND YOU WILL GET MORE ......................................................... 205 FACILITATING DISTRIBUTED MEETINGS ......................................................... 206 SOME THOUGHTS ON TOOLS ....................................................................... 207 SUMMARY................................................................................. 210 COLLABORATION, COMPLEXITY, CLARITY ...................................................... 211 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS .............................................................. 213 AUTHOR ................................................................................... 214
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Foreword I had been thinking about writing this book for a long time, but kept on postponing it. In 2016, inspired by a friend, I started doing 90-day challenges on writing, drawing, and running. At one point, I asked myself if it would be possible to write an entire book in 90 days. One voice in my head said yes and another said no, so I decided to try. As I had done with all my other challenges I made it public and invited people for the release party 90 days later. And then I started writing. 89 days later the printed books arrived, and the release party was an amazing experience. I have had so much fun after the release of the first edition. In this second edition I have added some chapters I did not have time to write for the first edition. I have also rewritten other things based on feedback from all the people that have come into contact with the book through reading it and all the workshops I have facilitated. I have received a lot of positive feedback on how the methods and models have helped people change how they do their meetings. I have also been asked a lot of questions. I wrote down all the feedback, and this second edition is about trying to give better explanations on some parts, and adding a lot of new chapters: •
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Five types of meetings where I give clear examples on how to run better information meetings, decision-making meetings, sync meetings, and more.
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I have rewritten large parts on how to set a good Meeting Focus and created a canvas to help people better plan the meetings.
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A Meeting Balance Assessment and Canvas to help you plan and balance your meetings to give more value.
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How to start with better meetings in your organization.
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Tools and methods to run your distributed meetings in a better way.
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How your meeting rooms limit your meetings and what to do about it.
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I have also added more methods and tips in other chapters.
I have had so much fun writing this book, and I hope it will inspire you to lead more meetings that matter!
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Introduction
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Solve problems together One of the most difficult things for organizations is to solve problems together. People either spend too much time trying to solve problems by themselves, sit quietly in meetings, or push their ideas on people. It is only when we gather people and help them think together that they can start solving the critical and often very complex problems that face our organizations and our world. “There are no problems we cannot solve together, and very few that we can solve by ourselves.” - Lyndon B. Johnson 36th U.S. President We spend too much time in unproductive meetings with too many people invited. The people who call for the meeting don’t spend enough time thinking about what they want to achieve or planning how to run the meeting so that we can use the full potential of the group. “But what should I plan, we are just going to talk?” If you have no clear goal to work towards, or have not thought about to get there, you, then you probably will not get there. The meeting ends up being boring, way too long, confusing, and few people at the meeting talk.
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People give up because so many meetings lack an open climate and structure for discussions and problem solving. Instead, they work by themselves or with a trusted colleague, discuss everything beforehand and then push their ideas on the group. It creates a vicious circle where people get used to going to a meeting with the intention of getting all the facts and a complete solution laid out in front of them, so that they can then nag about it or accept it. Leading meetings that matter is about setting a clear meeting focus, and then planning for collaboration, complexity, and clarity. Collaboration is about giving the group a clear goal and using methods during the meeting that helps everyone participate and share their perspectives. Complexity exists in all problems and we need methods to visualize the topic we are talking about, and good methods for finding insights and creating ideas. Clarity should be the end of all meetings where we have made the prioritized actions so clear and motivating that they will be implemented.
This book is about helping groups solve problems together.
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Book structure I like when I can open a book on a random page and get some inspiration from just reading that part. I love when books explain the theory and principles but also give clear examples on how it can be used in the real world. My aim has been to write that kind of book. You can read it from cover to cover or just jump in wherever you feel like it. There is a lot of references between chapters and to other sources so I hope you always feel that you have something more to read if you need it. The book is divided into twelve parts: Really simple tips to improve all your meetings, starting today. Prepare your organization to get started with better meetings. What is your meeting focus? is the most important part of the book. If you don’t know what you want to achieve then you will not get there. Prepare your meetings shows how to prepare and plan a meeting that is collaborative, solves complex problems, and gives clear outputs. Start with a common goal and a collaborative mindset to get the most out of your meetings. Five types of meetings give concrete tips on running some of the most common types of meetings.
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Visualize the problem to improve creativity, help people use more of their brain power, and have better discussions. Find and visualize insights by looking at the problem from different angles and discover the real problems behind the problem. Create and visualize ideas by giving people the time and space to think. Get clear outputs and decisions so that your solutions get implemented. The room matters gives tips on how to design your meeting rooms to make them as versatile as possible Distributed meetings are a necessary part of most organizations, and there are a few simple things you can do to improve them.
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