It’s pretty telling when comedian Sarah Cooper’s TikTok video on things to say in meetings to look smart makes us laugh. We laugh because we’ve all heard these statements before in meetings. And while it might be funny, it’s a sad reflection on the numerous hours spent wasting time.
In the video, Ms. Cooper humorously suggests using any of the following actions to create the illusion of brilliance if you haven’t been paying attention. They are:
1. Put percentages into a fraction.
2. Ask, “Will it scale?”
3. Repeat the last thing you heard very slowly.
4. Ask the presenter to go back one slide.
For those seeking responses to these disruptive maneuvers, some wonderful countering questions will reveal if there is really something behind the question or if the participant is just posturing. For instance, if someone does ask you to go back one slide, ask the question, “What is the question that you are trying to answer?” or, as suggested by decision expert Gary Bush, ask, “What are you looking for and maybe I can explain it to you?” If they ask, “Will it scale?” avoid the quick yes-or-no and do some additional digging. Replies such as “What impact would the answer have on what you are trying to do?” or “Tell me more about why this is a concern for you so I can ensure I am answering your question” are excellent ways of assessing the integrity of the initial question.
Taking a Closer Look
But there is a broader set of questions to consider when you use the “look smart” strategy, and they all have to do with effective meeting design. Those questions are:
Why are these individuals even in the meeting?
What’s their purpose in attending?
Meeting participants should be there for one of the following reasons: 1) They are there to provide/assess/clarify/interpret information that is pertinent to the question the meeting is addressing, or 2) they are there to make “the call” (otherwise known as a decision).
That’s it. Seriously.
If you don’t fall into one of those categories, you’re contributing to meeting inefficiency.
Every meeting room should have an “Enter Only if You Know Your Purpose in This Meeting” sign hung outside it. So if no one is sitting in your conference room when you get ready to lead a discussion, Your would-be participants are indicating you’ve got some work to do.
False Thinking
I recall once walking into a long rectangular-shaped meeting room to facilitate a client discussion. As I assessed the room set-up, I learned that essentially everyone had assigned seats. For instance, the director always sat at the end chair (when I asked what would happen if someone sat in that chair, I was met with shocked looks), and his closest advisors sat on either side of him. As I gazed at the chairs along the wall, I asked, “Who sits there?”
“Oh, those are the folks who just want to listen to what is being discussed. They don’t participate.”
Yikes! First, with all the aggressive cost-cutting initiatives and edits to be more efficient, people sit in meetings just to listen? What an efficient use of someone’s time. If people want to know what the active participants discussed, send them the minutes of the meeting–people can read summaries much faster than they can listen to the talk.
Second, I doubt that they are there to “just listen.” I have seen plenty of instances where supposed non-participants would occasionally jump in to comment, then jump out, citing the immunity of being “just a listener.” That makes for a disruptive meeting.
Thirdly, “just listeners” do impact meeting talk. Our talk changes depending on who is in the room (think about your dinner conversation when you invite the neighbors to join you vs. when just having a bite with the kiddos). I’ve heard meeting or workshop leaders state they want more people in the meeting to increase participation.
That’s false thinking.
Diminishing Returns
Per the law of diminishing returns, as your number of participants increases beyond what is known as the 10-group phenomenon, the percentage of those participating begins to drop. In larger groups, you as the leader or facilitator need to work much harder to actively engage all participants (along with using other techniques that mitigate the emerging social dynamics of large groups).
Additionally, larger groups take more time to cover the same content. As the number of people in meetings goes up geometrically, the number of interactions goes up exponentially. More people, more time. That’s the trade-off.
Don’t kid yourself. Adding unnecessary people to your meeting compromises your outcomes.
Determining Who’s Essential
First ask, “What two or three questions will be answered by the end of the meeting?” If you haven’t done this work, you are not yet ready to hold your meeting. Waiting until the meeting starts to flush out what will be answered is like not planning to start your holiday meal until the guests arrive. Bad planning.
Second, guided by those two or three questions, flush out the sub-questions that need answers before you are able to answer those higher-level questions. As an example, if you’re meeting to answer the question “How should we respond to the increase in safety incidents?” your sub-questions might include “Are we dealing with a situation of instability or incapability? What have we learned from the worker’s point of view? What are the factors that would make this increase predictable?”
Third, organize your sub-questions and then ask, “Who has the information and/or can provide the insights or clarification needed to answer each of these sub-questions?” Put those people on the list of invites, and inform them of their purpose and what will be expected of them.
If the question is a decision (e.g., “Should we go with option A or B?”), identify and invite the person with the authority required to make that call. And make sure that the decision-maker knows what decision they are there to make ahead of time. I recall one leader who sat through a one-hour presentation where the presenter never indicated the type of decision that needed to be made. When the decision question was finally posed, the leader replied, “My listening was not focused on needing to make that call. Start over.” (This presenter obviously skipped the two or three question rule!)
Smart Planning
As the meeting leader or facilitator, you must have a laser focus on the active role each invitee will play, and each invitee must be prepared for what will be needed from them in the meeting. We don’t want people who are there to look smart; we want people there who can be smart.
That’s the result of effective meeting design.