Nov 21 2024
Here’s three questions to help you look analytically at some communication patterns in your organization’s meetings. When meetings can value and accommodate diverse voices, that’s a big step toward creating an inclusive environment.
At work, many of us have the responsibility to collaborate and innovate, and we’d like to be more inclusive in these processes. In today’s episode, we’re going to look at communication in one very common workplace structure–meetings–and see how we can make them more inclusive.
Hi everybody, I’m Dr. Anne Marie Liebel, and this is 10 Minutes to Better Patient Communication, recently ranked #20 of the top 100 podcasts in the Social Sciences by Goodpods. If you want to take your communications to the next level, we’ve got the way. BRIDGES is our continuous improvement process. We evaluate your communication on seven important dimensions, to help you reach more people. For more information, visit healthcommunicationpartners.com or you can message me on LinkedIn.
So yeah, at HCP, I often help clients with patient communication, but I also help clients have better work conversations. We’re talking about interprofessional communication here, and organizational communication. And whether an organization wants to maximize the potential of their workforce, create a safe work environment, strengthen their brand, or bring diverse people together to innovate, communication is integral in these processes. We’ve done plenty of episodes on communication and collaboration, but it’s important in inviting contributions from the people who drive organizations forward.
The ways we come together and communicate can help us reduce barriers, unlock potential, and be smart together in new ways. But it takes effort, right? And that’s what this episode is about.
More organizations are looking for structural- or systems-level approaches these days. And meetings, it was the subject of our most popular episode last year–a reflection to open a meeting. I’ll put that link in there. And also just a couple weeks ago, I was talking to a client who really appreciated a new meeting structure that I’d helped them set up.
I want to get you thinking about communication patterns over time in your organization. Because they have a significant impact on people’s professional growth, on their participation in your organization, on their advancement, and on their relationships–colleagues, mentors, sponsors, partners.
These communication patterns over time can also either spur innovation or stifle innovation. So they are definitely worth looking at.
So let’s step a little bit closer.
Meetings. There’s a lot that could be said and a lot that has been said about them. They’re so common, they’re often kind of a pain. We want to get them over with, but they’re potent organizational and social events. In fact, the godmother of meetings research, Professor Helen Schwartzman, said almost 40 years ago that the meeting is a microcosm for the organization itself, its powers, its structures, its functions.
So talk at meetings is then a powerful element of corporate culture.
Now I want to point out this is systems-level we’re talking about. We’re not talking about one person’s communication style, or one person’s way of holding meetings. We’re looking at patterns over time, and maybe even across groups, in an organization. Usually these kinds of patterns are subtle enough that they can be tough to notice, but hey, that’s why I’m here. So let’s dig in!
Think about meeting agendas. We’ve all seen them. Even the language of a meaning agenda communicates a lot. It says what’s appropriate to talk about, how it should preferably be talked about, and usually who gets to do the talking. I love the description of an agenda from an article in the Lancet where the author says, “An agenda is a statement of power, influence, inclusion,
and exclusion.” That’s a lot: power, influence, inclusion, exclusion. So we want to look at the communication habits around your organization’s meetings to make sure that they’re not unintentionally making it easier for some people to participate than others.
We don’t want this, because it threatens one of the deep benefits to having a diverse workforce, which is employees being able to contribute, right? Leverage their different perspectives, experiences, knowledge bases. Because hiring employees with diverse backgrounds is an essential step, but representation is not enough. People need to contribute, participate, and much participation is done through communication.
So a shift of communication habits can produce meaningful effects.
If meeting organizers can give a fair shot to people who aren’t the loudest voices or the usual suspects, if meetings can value and accommodate diverse communication styles and preferences, that’s a big step toward creating an inclusive meeting. Now having equal participation and engagement is a worthy goal in itself, but organizations want inclusive meetings because we want all those benefits. People have unique perspectives that can help provide a fuller picture, point out dead zones, reduce mistakes, bring new ideas, fuel for innovation, fuel for smart decision-making.
So how do you get this? I’m going to give you three questions to help you look analytically at communication in meetings in your organization. Three questions. Here we go!
#1. How do people get the floor?
How do they get to talk? Does someone explicitly invite them to speak, by calling their name? Are they named on the agenda? Do people just speak up, raise their hand, use the chat? How do people get the floor?
#2. How much talking time do people get, who are not the meeting organizers?
This can be a real eye-opener and it’s super easy to do now with virtual meetings. You literally can just time it and see how much time people get. I used to do that with my students, and they couldn’t believe it, oh my gosh. So how much talking time do people get who aren’t the organizer?
#3. Who asks questions?
This can be another real eye-opener. Literally, the next time you’re in a meeting, when someone asks a question, just jot down who it was. How often are those people not the organizers?
All right, those three questions. How do people get the floor? How much talking time do people get who aren’t the organizer? And who asks questions? For each of those answers, I want you to consider: how might this be keeping some people from participating as much as others do?
Because people want to stay at an organization where their opinion is not only encouraged, but valued. Making things more inclusive and participatory doesn’t have to mean a free-for-all! Even a small shift in the communication habits around your organization’s meetings can invite more people in, and have more inclusive participation.
You want to know how communication during meetings could improve at your organization? Ask your colleagues. This will help show that you take them seriously, and you consider them to be a valuable and productive member of a team.
If you want more help, ask me. BRIDGES is our continuous improvement process. We evaluate your communication on seven research-based dimensions to help you make changes that have immediate impact. This has been 10 Minutes to Better Patient Communication from Health Communication Partners. Audio Engineering and Music by Joe Liebel. Additional music from Alexis Rounds. I’m Dr. Anne Marie Liebel.
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