#SILENT START FULL#

In our view you get very little information, you get bullet points. Somebody gets up in the front of the room and presents a PowerPoint presentation, some sort of slideshow. the traditional corporate meeting starts with a presentation. Staff meetings at Amazon begin with 30 minutes of silent reading. “We have study hall at the beginning of our meetings. Jeff Bezos is a big fan of this approach and shares this about his use of it in Amazon: If that sounds old-fashioned or like a slower world to which we can’t now return, you might be surprised by one leading proponent. Unlike most meetings, everyone has had time to properly consider the better presented content & think before speaking.

But it usually still reduces meeting length, because the author then simply asks for any questions before moving to a decision. This can take anything from 20-50% of a meeting. Rather than sending this out in advance, the meeting starts with silent reading.

Instead they produce a short document (2-6 pages) with text, data, visualisations, graphs all used together as needed. The simple idea is for presenters to dispense with slides altogether. On that topic his essay “ The Cognitive Style of Powerpoint” is well worth a read as well as very funny.Īnyway, in his latest book, Tufte returns to the argument for what he in American calls Study Hall. Edward Tufte (as well as being such a prophet for the cause of better data visualisation) has long railed against Death by Powerpoint. In my review of that book I mentioned that I was struck by his prescription for more productive meetings. Learning from the way that Amazon use Tufte’s Study Hall approachĪfter listening to Joe’s podcast, I was reminded of reading Edward Tufte’s latest book “ Seeing with Fresh Eyes“. In this episode, I share a different way to kick off meetings by giving participants quiet time to prepare. ‎Setting the right tone at the beginning of a meeting may require you to say nothing at all. 215 – Silent meeting starts on Apple Podcasts So, if you self identify with a leader who sleepwalks through a whole day of boring meetings, take a listen: The benefit is that at least one may better suit your organisation. It is well worth a listen as Joes shares a few different ways to kick of a meeting in silence. Time for senior leaders to pause in their hectic days and have time to read the agenda properly and actually think about the issues in focus.

He recommends a silent start to meetings. Following his latest manifesto (an essay entitled “ The Quiet Workplace“), Joe identifies part of the problem as the immediate rush to talking and interrupting presenters with questions before fully understanding the issue. Ones that leaders attend on autopilot and fail to produce the better quality thinking or breakthrough decisions needed. In episode 215, he laments the current problem of unproductive meetings. He also has a more recent broader focus on productivity & better quality thinking. Author of the excellent books “ Brief” and “ Noise“, Joe focusses on helping leaders become clear and concise communicators. That nudge, or prick of my conscience, came from listening to an episode of the “ Just Saying” podcast hosted by Joe McCormack. Prompted to face the malaise of unthinking noisy meetings I hope it at least provokes your thinking and at best empowers you to transform your meetings. So, as my gift to you, I thought I’d bring them all together in this post. Together I believe they do point to a better way. The second two are tips I learnt from books I have previously reviewed on this blog. The first was a recent nudge from one of the podcasts I regularly follow. This week I’ve been reminded of three resources that point to a better way. But it’s also worth facing into the challenge of how meetings can become more than a necessary evil. Now the solution can sometimes be to prioritise & only attend those where you are really needed.

When mentoring data & analytics leaders very often we identify unproductive meetings as a drain on their time & energy. It is not an easy transition to make but in a world that needs more deep work & critical thinking surely it’s worth the effort. So, after so many years of suffering this can there really be such a radically different way.

#SILENT START FULL#

Too many leaders face diaries chocked full of back to back meeting that can sound like talking shops. I know, to start your meetings in silence sounds a million miles away from your current experience.

Silent start