Creativity down the drain
Creativity Down The Drain
It's Summertime so that can only mean one thing here in the UK - a water shortage. To readers abroad this might come as something of a surprise. The UK is known for its rainfall. The umbrella is practically part of our national dress. Where all that water disappears to no one seems quite sure, but disappear it does.
The same is true of ideas in a company. There is actually no shortage of creativity. It is just that the ideas don't make it from their source to their destination.
The ideal destination for these fresh, original, money-saving or money-making ideas is meetings. But any of us who have spent time in meetings know that they are not generally a hothouse of creativity.
In fact, companies waste between £380 and £570 per employee per month paying managers to sit in meetings that contribute nothing to the business.
Whether it's client meetings, staff meetings, management meetings, sales meetings, meetings with suppliers, meetings with clients or potential clients or networking meetings, professionals spend an average of 37% of their time (about 62 hours a month) in meetings. And research shows that 30-50% of that time is wasted.
However, the cost of employing people to sit in ineffective meetings is just the tip of the iceberg. If you take lost opportunities into account, the price you are paying is much greater.
Meetings should be the engine room of your business, where your key decision-makers come together to share ideas, opinions, experience and information. Potentially it is where new services and products can be developed and honed, where disputes within the organisation can be resolved effectively and where money-making or time-saving ideas can be mooted, debated and agreed upon.
Every one of the good ideas generated in this kind of forum could make or save your company thousands of pounds. Meetings can be the creative and decision-making hub of the business. But, generally, this opportunity is missed.
A survey of CEOs, CFOs and COOs of 187 US companies with market capitalisations of at least $1 billion found that 80% of time in meetings is devoted to issues accounting for less than 20% of the company's long term value.
It is as though you have a burst water main in the heart of your business. The prime forum for discussing innovative ways to differentiate yourself from your competitors, to reduce wasted expenditure, to improve profit and to resolve current challenges efficiently and effectively is not fit for purpose, just like the leaky Victorian water mains that supply our homes.
And don't think you can just cut your meeting time by a third and the problem will be resolved. Because it's the very structure of meetings that is at fault not the amount of time we spend in them.
As a creative thinking partner for businesses around the UK, I have observed hundreds of hours of meetings. Very few achieve their desired outcomes. In one case each team member reported a completely different account of what had occurred. Some believed a decision had been made. Others believed it had been deferred. Some felt they had explored every option. Others felt they had barely scratched the surface. Inevitably, no action was taken and further meetings had to be held to assess where things had gone wrong.
However, if they are run well, meetings can lead to both top line and bottom line benefit.
One company brought me in to facilitate a one-day thinking session to originate profit-making ideas. The delegates, all senior managers, arrived rather low on morale, convinced there were no profit-improving ideas they hadn't already considered. By the end of the day the team had conceived over 100 ideas. The best were each worth tens of thousands of pounds to the organisation. A day well spent.
By transforming the effectiveness of your meetings you can reveal the bottomless well of imaginative solutions that sits untapped in your company. Instead of meetings being a drain on your business, they will become an investment…the returns on which are endless.
Effective meetings - a starting point
1. Separate operational meetings from strategic meetings. Delegates to these meetings need to have a different thinking hat on. Mixing the two leads to confusion.
2. Clearly identify whether a meeting or agenda item is for "information sharing", "decision-making", "feedback", "ideas generation" or another purpose. Keep "information sharing" to a minimum. There are plenty of better ways to share information than to sit through a meeting, only one part of which is relevant to you.
3. Consider who to invite and how to design the agenda with care. A big meeting is not necessarily a better meeting. What is the purpose of the meeting and who can contribute or gain most by attending? What are the priorities of the meeting? Realistically how much time needs to be given to each item? And what must be dealt with first? Often a PA puts the agenda together. I would say that the shape of the meeting is vital to its success. Someone who really understands the pressing needs of the business should be in charge of the agenda.
4. Good meetings are all about preparation. Distribute data before the meeting (not too much, otherwise people won't read it). If you are looking for ideas and opinions in the meeting, also ask attendees to consider these questions before they arrive. Not everyone thinks well on their feet.
5. Look to continually improve on the quality of your meetings. Are you using your time well? Are you getting what you need? Do people leave enthusiastic, clear about their next steps and committed to the decisions made? If not, how do your meetings need to be improved so they really work?
