discussion, involvement. This is where meetings can actually be great. Our research shows that when meetings are done well, they become sources of positive energy for employees. We always think about meetings as sucking energy, but they can be a great source of positive energy when done well.
Knowledge@Wharton: Does the number of participants matter? Rogelberg: Yes, meeting size
matters. I have a chapter in my book, “The Bigger the Better.” It’s the idea that meeting dysfunction expands as size expands. It’s just much more challenging with large meetings. You have communication issues and something called social loafi ng, which is the idea that people start to just hide in the crowd. Our goal is to get these meetings to be as lean as possible, and there are some strategies that one can do.
Knowledge@Wharton: What are your thoughts on the walking meeting?
Rogelberg: Standing-up meetings produce the same quality of outcomes as a sitting-down meeting, but in half as much time. And then there’s a walking meeting. Walking meetings are really terrifi c when it’s just you and one other person,
or you and a couple of folks. They can create focus. Obviously, it gets people out of their offi ce. People can get outside. People get steps on their Fitbits. There are lots of positives that can emerge from it. There are a few important caveats. First of all, you have to keep that meeting size really small. Two, people need to know in advance that you’re having a walking meeting. That way, we make sure that everyone has the right shoes, which is relevant. And three, you actually want to think about where you’re walking. As funny as it sounds, you want to make sure you’re walking in a circle, so you wind up back where you started, and it didn’t take you long.
Knowledge@Wharton: You also suggest bringing fun items to the meeting, like toys for the table. Why is that?
Rogelberg: We know that meetings are experienced like interruptions. People are doing their work, then they’re called to a meeting, and they psychologically experience it as an interruption. We know from the research that interruptions put people in bad moods. We also know that when people are in bad moods, they tend to be more rigid in their thinking and less creative and just not
as open and receptive to others’ ideas. Those are all bad things. There are a variety of things that can be done that can help people be a little bit more glad to be there. Whether it’s being playful and throwing some Play-Doh on a table — fi ne. I certainly wouldn’t advocate that all of the time or for all diff erent groups. But what I want the leader to do is just be aware of the negative mood that people often bring in. It’s important for leaders to recognize that they are hosts, and when people come into the meeting, they should welcome them. They should express appreciation for them being there. They should make introductions to others that those people might not know. Those types of host-like behaviors tend to be most eff ective for helping people deal with the negative eff ects of an interruption.
Republished with permission from Knowledge@Wharton (http://
knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu), the online research and business analysis journal of the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76
