The importance of biscuits and a dramatically different way of thinking about workplace meetings.
Meetings as barriers to thriving in the workplace have become a nagging theme in my coaching. As well as often being devastatingly demotivating, meetings are also missed opportunities.
This blog explores a better way to manage meetings - a way that can inspire us, instead of inducing dread?
To explore the topic of meetings further, I did what any reasonable person would do: I asked my Facebook and LinkedIn friends and contacts to give me three words that sum up meetings.
Then I created a word cloud.
I hasten to warn you, this is far from scientific. But it does provoke thought - if only to see the responses from mostly UK-based educators, artists, my relatives, old school and college acquaintances, and that bloke you once met at a conference.
This resulting word cloud actually shows less negativity than I'd assumed. A fair number of people, to my surprise, have positive experiences. Notably, for some reason I can't quite fathom, playwrights were almost universally Eeyorish ...
Connect and boring stood out; highlighting, I suppose, that our need for human interaction often leads us down the dusty path to monotony. Agenda and time could be laden with different values, depending on one's perspective. To me, they strongly suggest our immersion, both consciously and unconsciously, for good and for ill, in the workplace machine's insistence that we are focused and productive.
Discuss.
Refreshments are clearly at the front of people's minds. Perhaps, just giving more attention to the quality of biscuits and beverages would lift the spirits. Personally, my heart lifts if there's quality coffee.
Treating Meetings Dramatically
There's always a danger when I'm teaching about performance that the word 'dramaturgy' triggers a jargon klaxon and eyes glaze over. That's a shame. It's a useful concept.
The idea of dramaturgy can be applied to more than theatre. It's the art of blending different elements to create a captivating experience of any kind. Think of a stage production: the script, actors, set design, lighting, sound, audience, and venue all work together to create something we hope will engage our feelings, our intellects, and our sense of relatedness to others.
Do your meetings do that? If not, why not?
I'd argue that treating meetings with the sensibility we apply to well-crafted performances can significantly enhance levels of engagement and motivation. Just like a captivating play, a memorable gig or an uplifting festival, meetings can be designed to capture attention, spark creativity, and foster collaboration.
Here's my suggestion for transforming meetings using dramaturgical principles, summed up in an acronym (because surely the world needs more acronyms!)
The D.I.R.E.C.T.S Framework for Meetings
DIALOGUE
Dialogue can be defined as the kind of human exchange that leads to greater understanding. Meetings shouldn't be just transmission and reception. If it can be achieved in an email, trust people to extract information and self-manage their time. Good dialogue leads to finding new insights together. Just as a play involves an exchange between characters and between the audience and the performance, a good meeting should involve authentically creative to and fro. Think about what blocks that flow - devices, interruptions, a poor beginning, the need to feed egos - and design meetings to avoid those traps.
INCLUSION
Some great theatre deliberately excludes, by being pitched, for example, at an adult audience, or by dint of the fact its genre does not connect with a particular demographic. The Rocky Horror Show tends not to get group bookings from the John Birch Society. However, much great theatre aims not to exclude anyone, in either its creation or its experience. Think, for example, how disability access has become an aesthetic. A performance is layered to create differentiated points of engagement. Similarly, in meetings, we should think about how to be inclusive. Not everyone needs to be in every meeting, but once invited, they should feel they have a meaningful role. Avoid jargon, consider accessibility, and be mindful of different needs and backgrounds.
RELATEDNESS
People attend performance to experience something together. The shared experience and the collective response - whether it's laughter, applause, or that silence which you know is freighted with mutual understanding - make the experience memorable. There's something sticky about an event which makes you feel part of a community. Meetings too benefit from fostering a sense of relatedness. Design them so that people genuinely feel they're in it together. If someone leaves a meeting feeling isolated and disconnected then surely that contributes to demotivation. Perhaps quality biscuits aren't just a trivial concern, as shared eating is bonding. Go on, why not really splash out on refreshments, so the diabetics, gluten intolerants, vegans and others can really feel included (see point above).
EMOTION
Feelings exist in meetings whether we acknowledge them or not. Instead of ignoring emotions, let's think about how to harness positive ones such as celebration, humour, inspiration, and empathy. Of course, there's not an experience that we have that's not somehow connected to feeling. When we make theatre, we want the emotions it stirs up to be appropriate. So be aware if people are bored or frustrated, or even feeling humiliated or depressed. Think of ways that you have agency in a meeting to generate positive emotions.
CURIOSITY
What drives a good play is generating curiosity. What happens next? What are the themes summed up in the play's symbolism? Often the title of a play triggers creative thinking. Consider Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman as an example. When we witness the play, we are curious about its resonances - with our own lives, with the wider world. The play is both intimately about a family and more broadly about the hollowness of the American Dream. And, as Miller writes, it was universal enough to resonate with Chinese audiences in 1983. Meetings should ignite that same curiosity. Is there something unexpected to learn, explore, or solve? Build the expectation that a meeting is a place to learn, and people will be far more engaged.
TIME
The best shows often know how to use time well. I would avoid meetings that feel like Waiting for Godot though, where famously 'nothing happens twice'. A meeting, like a performance, needs a beginning, middle, and end. Think about the timing. Is it a quick sketch, a focused one-act, or something more expansive? Make sure the meeting has a shape, is appropriate for its purpose and leaves people feeling satisfied that it was time well spent.
SPACE
A performance is shaped by its setting. Why should meetings be any different? Consider the physical or virtual space. Note how furniture featured in the word cloud. What are the acoustics, smells and tactility present in the room? Do sockets encourage participants to hide behind laptops, and disengage from dialogue? When we make theatre we are intensely aware of how the proxemics between performers and performer/audience relationship affects meaning too. Are you giving power and authority to someone because they are at the head of a long table? Do participants need to overcome their fear of public utterance as saying something requires vocal projection? So, be conscious of the use of the space. It should foster connection, focus, and creativity.
This framework isn't just for in-person gatherings; it can be adapted to online meetings too. For example, Space is a dynamic in Zoom calls. Can you manage the protocols around having cameras on and off to maximise dialogue, while sustaining awareness of inclusion?
Here's an infographic that sums up D.I.R.E.C.T.S
D.I.R.E.C.T.S. can help us rethink our approach to how we meet, collaborate, and connect. After all, a well-designed meeting, like a well-designed performance, can inspire, engage, and move us forward together.
What do you think?
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