Problems in Meetings
There are several reasons why problem-solving meetings are often counterproductive and frustrating. Be alert to some of the weaknesses and avoid them if you want important meetings to be effective.
Some experts say all meetings are basically problem-solving meetings. All meetings are held to determine a course of action, resolve a problem or difficulty, or find a solution. If this is the case, then 50 percent to 60 percent of your time every day is spent in this type of meeting. It is important that you be aware of the obstacles to effective thinking and good decision making.
Groupthink
The first challenge in meetings is groupthink. This occurs when the group has a tendency to move quickly to a conclusion without considering enough different ways of defining the problem or the solution. Rather than weighing and measuring different decisions against each other, the group moves like a “herd” and settles on a single decision early in the discussion. Sometimes this is called convergent thinking, where the group moves to a particular solution without considering a greater variety of alternatives.
Alfred P. Sloan, the founder of General Motors, was aware of this danger. When he called a meeting to discuss and agree on a course of action, and when everyone seemed to be in agreement with the solution, he would bring the meeting to an end and table the discussion.
Then he would tell the assembled executives that if everyone was in agreement early in the discussion, it probably meant that no one had really given very much thought to the issue under consideration. He would instruct everyone to go away and think about the situation and come back with questions and disagreements. He insisted that people take the issues more seriously. He had found, with experience, that problems resolved by groupthink were solutions that were invariably worse than those that had been carefully considered.
A complex problem and its solution need to be argued over and dissected for the pros and cons of the issue. If the solution arises too early and too easily, and everyone goes along with it, it is probably wrong. It needs to be thought through at greater depth.
Let’s All Get Along
Another weakness that emerges in problem-solving or decision-making meetings is the desire to avoid conflict and to say, “Let’s not argue or fight.”
People think that if they want to get along, they have to go along. The people at the meeting become more concerned with getting along with each other and being friends than they are with challenging each other and expressing disagreement. Conflict avoidance takes priority over solution quality, which almost always generates suboptimal solutions.
Often, the group feels that any solution will do. It is late in the day or late in the week, and the members of the decision-making group want to come to a resolution and move on as soon as possible. The group values “getting any decision” more highly than getting a good decision. The group wants closure so that they can get on to something else. They don’t want to make the effort to think through the hard issues to come up with a superior solution.
Louder and Faster
Another problem in decision-making meetings is that there is a tendency for the group to be more influenced by those who speak out more, louder or faster. An authoritative, dominant, or Type A personality will usually speak more fluently and articulately, with more command of information and more conviction than others. This type of person may unduly sway the other members of the group.
For this reason the manager or group leader should be like an orchestra conductor, guiding and directing others rather than dominating the meeting. A good position for you to take at the beginning is to have no fixed opinion on the matter under discussion; instead, you are going to leave it to the members of the group to thrash it out until they come to a consensus.
Anyone who speaks louder, faster, or with greater self-confidence will have greater influence on the other people in the meeting. This is a common technique that some people use to impose their personality and ideas on others. The danger is that if the people who speak the loudest have the greatest influence, they can cause the group to move toward or settle on a poor decision or one that is not the best decision for this issue.
Take Charge
As the group leader, there are two strategies you can use. First, take the loud-talking person aside before the meeting and ask him to give others an opportunity to speak. Second, when someone begins to dominate the meeting by speaking louder and faster, you can say something like, “That is a good idea. Let’s hear what some of the others have to say about this.” Encourage other people to contribute their best thinking and block for them so that they get a chance to speak.
Politics in Decision Making
A major factor in ineffective decision making, and a problem in meetings, is politics. Someone has power and authority and intimidates others in the meeting; meanwhile, everyone else wants to be seen as a team player, so they go along with the person in the meeting who has the most authority.
Because of this political discomfort, people can find themselves agreeing with things they are not really comfortable with. Political decisions often bring about the worst possible decisions for the organization.
The solutions to these general problems are always the same. Have a written agenda. Give everyone a chance to talk. Encourage the quieter people to fully express themselves and run interference for them by not allowing interruptions when someone is speaking. Remember, the meeting is one of the most important tools of the manager. Your ability to conduct excellent meetings—meetings that get results—is indispensable to your future.