Chapter 9 – The effect of meeting design on boardroom dynamics Flashcards
According to Romano and Nunamaker - what were the most frequent problems with meetings?
- No goals or agenda
- Getting off topic
- Being too lengthy
- Disorganisation
What do directors say is the most common reason for ineffective boardroom conversations as per Tomorrow’s Governance Report?
Poor conversations are due to design related issues and not personality issues
What does Sun Tzu say re: design characteristics?
Every battle is won before it is fought
Cohen et al came up with 18 design characteristics that could potentially affect meeting quality and categorised these into four different categories. What are these? TAPP
- Temporal (time)
- Attendees
- Physical
- Procedural
Based on Cohen et al’s research, which design characteristics correlated with meeting quality?
- Promptness of start and end (temporal) - good courtesy
- Number of attendees (attendee) - less the better
- Lighting (physical) - avoid strain
- Temperature (physical)
- Refreshments (physical)
- Meeting space (physical)
- Agenda use (procedural)
- Meeting arrangements (procedural)
As 4 of the 8 design characteristics related to the physical characteristics, the study concluded that this was crucial to encourage an appropriate environment for meeting effectiveness
Name the four temporal design characteristics
- Meeting length
- Promptness of start and end
- Use of breaks - attention can only be maintained for 30 – 40 minutes – Pomodoro method – rejuvenates mental focus
- Time of day - Larks and Owls - Cornell University research on 500 million tweets - more positive in morning
Name the two attendee design characteristics
- Number of attendees - bigger = individual director participation reduces
- Presence of a meeting facilitator - chair or co-sec (where appropriate)
Name the 7 physical design characteristics
- Lighting
- Noise
- Temperature
- Refreshments
- Meeting space arrangements
- Technology
- Seating dynamics
Name the 7 procedural characteristics
- Meeting goals
- Agenda use
- Pre-meeting talk
- Visual displays
- Meeting agreements
- Minutes
- Recording of meeting?
Outline the board design checklist to implement the TAPP design characterstics
- Set the meeting date and co-create
- Select minimum additional attendees to contribute
- Brief required personal on what board pre-information is required
- Select an appropriate meeting space
- Circulate the confirmed agenda and timings
- Evaluate and adapt the meeting room facilities
- Arrange appropriate refreshments
- Assign seating if required
- Start on time, ensure refreshments can be self-served, complete a meeting agreement
- During meeting: use facilitation and/or physical position changes as required for certain agenda items; record through minutes and electronically/live stream as necessary
- End before or on time (having reviewed meeting agreements)
- After the meeting: circulate the minutes (and record as appropriate)
What is the ideal meeting length?
Deloitte: 3 - 5 hours seen as good practice
Seth Irvine: 3 - 4 hours is ideal and anything longer is light on substance
Research also shows that meetings last up to twice as long when materials are distributed during a meeting – cosec should ensure materials are distributed in advance of the meeting
Why are refreshments positively correlated with meeting quality?
1) Good hospitality and creates feelings of comfort and positivity
2) Ability to focus - think of different types of food/drink
Yale University - people are more likely to give something to others if they held something warm, and more likely to take something for themselves if they held something cold - perhaps offer refreshments before a key decision is made
Why is the meeting space positively correlated with meeting quality?
- Large enough space and uncluttered will minimise distractions
- Cultural artefacts will impact how people think
- Pictures of prominent teams and stakeholders
- Office location
Why are meeting agreements (ground rules) positively correlated to meeting quality?
Ground rules help to establish the right expectations for the participants of a meeting
Duke University: pledge or sign to confirm honesty
