There’s an easy test to see if that weekly meeting is resonating. If it’s helping and adding value to the people who attend.
For the attendees, if their first inclination is to cancel, it means they aren’t feeling it. They don’t see the point.
It means the current agenda is about you rather than them.
What and who is the meeting for? Is it for you to talk at people? For them to report back to you? Is it just for status and management?
Call and response meetings do not empower. It does not breed ownership. It’s a compliance tool.
Compliant teams don’t change the world. They don’t even change your company, division, product, or department.
“If you want to build a ship, don’t drum up people to collect wood and don’t assign them tasks and work, but rather teach them to long for the endless immensity of the sea.”
Antoine de Saint Exupéry
What we want are meetings that help people grow and improve.
If you’re not sure your meetings accomplish that, ask yourself if the conversation stops when you leave the room.
Or if it finally gets started.
That might be a sign that you’ve got some growing to do. You need to reshape those get-togethers.
What they do when you’re not there gives you some insight as to what they are learning when you are. Insight into the habits and the principles you’ve instilled and perpetuate.
Pixar has a wonderful way of empowering their teams right from the start.
“Suppose you are hired at Pixar, whether it’s as a director or as a barista in the company café. On your first day, you and a small group of fellow newbies are ushered into the theater where screenings are held. You are asked to sit in the fifth row—because that’s where the directors sit. Then you hear the following words: Whatever you were before, you are a filmmaker now. We need you to help us make our films better. “It’s incredibly powerful,” said Mike Sundy, who works in data management. “You feel changed.””
Daniel Coyle, The Culture Code
“You feel changed.”
That is enrollment. Once a new hire is enrolled, they become a willing participant, and your job changes too. It changes from telling them where to go, to supporting them on their journey. Helping them get there.
Would a filmmaker cancel an important meeting just because a producer is on vacation? No, but a barista might, especially if they don’t see the connection between their work and the company mission.
Ferrari worked through some similar issues when Benedetto Vigna took over as CEO. He realized that the people in the factory didn’t connect with the big picture. Why? They had never stepped inside the high-end sports cars. Some had spent their whole working life with the company and had only seen their component, their small contribution. So, he had them all out to see and touch and feel the cars as he worked to reshape the culture. It was a transformative moment for the employees and the company.
Vigna said “There are three types of companies. There are companies where the people work for the boss, there are companies where the people work for the company, and there are companies where people work for the values, for the purpose, for the myth.”
Which of those do you think is most powerful?
We’re talking about work, but it holds true at home too.
If the Coach can’t make practice, I really hope the team comes together and runs those drills just like normal. Maybe even better. They see those drills as an important part of the process.
If Mom and Dad are out of town, do the kids go straight for an ice cream sundae? Or do they take care of the house, head out to the market, pick up milk, eggs, and fabric softener?
How do we get teams that will stand on their own two feet and take ownership of the work at hand?
We discussed enrollment, but that can be intimidating. Enrollment feels like it takes charisma and charm, so what are some small steps we can take to nudge the team in the right direction?
You can still run those meetings and get all the juicy updates you’d like, but you’ll do them differently. You’ll do them in a way that allows creativity and leadership and learning from all levels.
- Share the agenda. Open-source topics, and conversations will flow towards areas the group has identified as important.
- Share the microphone. New leaders will emerge if you give them space. Use this opportunity to connect and listen to different points of view.
- Share the vision. Making movies, making software, whatever it is you make, identify the vision. Identify the direction and leave the team some latitude on how to travel there.
They are coming because you told them to. You want them to come because it’s fun and they learn, and they are challenged, and they leave changed. Focus on enrollment rather than enforcement. If you get them enrolled, you can take a month off and the show goes on. If it’s only enforcement, compliance, you’ll learn that quickly.
Just pay attention to what they do when you’re not there.
