Friday feedback with Danni Liljekrans.
A typical meeting.
Maybe you've tried it yourself?
That activity where you don't have a clear agenda. And then you take "random" people who don't know why they're going into a room that's either too small or has a bad indoor climate.
Hi, this is Danni. Welcome to Friday Feedback.
The theme is effective meetings
The theme for the start of 2019 is effective meetings, because if there's one place you can make a difference with your feedback culture, it's in meetings.
But before we can give feedback to our meetings, we often have to create some space.
"I usually compare it to driving on a motorway at 220km/h. Then we don't have to turn the steering wheel very wrong before it goes horribly wrong. And it's the same when we talk and talk and never stop."
This is Bastian Overgaard. Lecturer and facilitator, the man behind mindresnak.nu.
He continues like this:
"This is where silence can be seen as a speed bump. We become more aware. We become more aware. We become more focused on what is around us. We can get a little speed-blind when one word just takes over another."
I asked him how he would work with the feedback culture in a team, and briefly he recommends the following:
Recognize and prioritize silence
"Create a culture that recognises and prioritises silence."
Okay. Pretty short and to the point. I knew silence would be the theme, of course, because that's what Bastian works on and does so well. But I'm still curious about the nuances and background. So, besides the obvious reason why we should consider spaces, what happens in that silence if we introduce it?
"Well, the beauty of silence is that it gives us time to think. We get time to register a lot of things that we don't get time to register when we have a culture where we expect constant talking.
That's the reality we have today, that when we walk into a meeting room, whether we're giving each other feedback or sharing information, we expect to be talked to continuously.
Silence is something awkward, something strange that we expect to happen outside.
It's something you do on a silent retreat, or when we meditate, or someone has died.
Then you are quiet together.
No, we must bring in silence as a completely logical, intelligent space."
So in addition to the benefits that Bastian says there may be, which I believe there are, it at least gives us some time to reflect on the situation we're in right now or the situation we've just been in.
Nothing good rarely comes from constant talk. Just think of our videos a few months ago about Introvert Ib and the Extrovert, or Influencer Ib in the DISC model, who talk and talk and talk.
It is not always an advantage that those who are good at talking are allowed to talk all the time.
Instead, we could consider creating some space for reflection.
Reflection on how we do things; why we do things. Because otherwise, we never get any room to adjust course.
And that's where we can start giving feedback on our meetings.
How are your meetings going? Is it non-stop talk?
Are you finished on time and do you have the possibility to correct? Or is it fast forward to the next meeting as soon as the bell rings?
Also join the debate on Linked here.
#Fridayfeedback are short videos with tips for better performance and well-being through feedback.
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