If you’ve ever found yourself in meetings gone awry with digressions and detours, this next tip might just save you some time and aggravation.
Bob Frisch and Cary Greene are partners in the Strategic Offsites Group and are co-authors of “Simple Sabotage: A Modern Field Manual for Detecting & Rooting Out Everyday Behaviors That Undermine Your Workplace.”
Their recent article in the Harvard Business Review offers guidance on the right way to cut people off in meetings.
Even with tight agendas, focused presentations, and moderated discussions, meetings can still get off track quickly. And it’s never much fun to play meeting cop and pull the old “Can we get back to the topic at hand?” admonition. It’s awkward, and it doesn’t work very well.
Frisch and Greene suggest choosing a code word that everyone knows is the signal for refocusing. More importantly, anyone can invoke it, so it spreads out the responsibility for keeping things on track.
Here’s how it works. Pick a word – Frisch and Greene use the word jellyfish in their article, but it can be anything. Try to keep it a bit silly and lighthearted, and keep it neutral:
“At the start of your meeting, introduce the jellyfish ground rule: If any attendee feels the conversation is heading off course or delving into an inappropriate level of detail, they can and should employ the word to indicate that opinion. Simply say “jellyfish” or “I think we’re having a jellyfish moment” or “Gee, did I just see a jellyfish swim by?” It’s a catchall for ‘Why don’t you take this offline — the rest of us would like our meeting back.’”
Here’s why they say it works so well:
“First, it’s safe. The word is both simple and funny, and if set up correctly at the start of a meeting, it carries the same effect as other more traditional (and less comfortable) ways of interrupting and redirecting the conversation. Of course, you can pick another, similarly silly word, but we’ve been using this one for years and have found that people — indeed, entire organizations — quickly embrace it.
Second, it’s accessible. Anyone can invoke it. The meeting owner or facilitator may be the first to use it, but they don’t have to be the only one. Any participant can ask, “This feels like jellyfish. Do you agree?” prompting the person or people on the tangent to ask themselves if they are using the group’s time well.
Third, it raises awareness. When meeting participants know that jellyfish will be used, they can’t help but become more self-aware about staying on topic. In many cases we’ve even seen attendees call jellyfish on themselves.”
Don’t let meetings drift. Let people know how important it is to stay focused and deal with the questions at hand. Use the jellyfish method to keep your discussions on target.
Have a great week.
Sign up for The Sunday Snippet!
Good ideas to help you prosper delivered fresh each Sunday morning.