For Effective Meetings, Use the Right Words
16 July 2013
Read by 1789 persons
Tired of long meetings? Two MIT researchers say certain words can speed things up.
"To kill a bill, I create a committee," said Clemenceau. He could just as well have said, "I organize a meeting."
But don't worry: there's no inevitability, according to a study (cited by The Wall Street Journal) by two statistics researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). They analyzed the minutes of several dozen meetings in detail to understand how the decision-making process worked.
Their goal? To better understand when key decisions were actually made. I'll skip the details of their study, which you can find here, with all the complicated algorithms and formulas that come with it. We'll simply remember from their work that certain keywords spoken during meetings have tremendous power to move things forward...
Yeah, Great!
The first of these words, being an American study, is "yeah." Said like that, it's not great, but if you practice finding the right tone by adding a little enthusiasm, the word does work as a kind of approval.
Other words that show a meeting is progressing well: "give," "menu," "start," or "discuss." All very logical. You've been warned. If your meetings drag on, here's what you can say: "Yeah, great! Okay, I think we've given all we could give. What's on the menu now? Most importantly, when do we start? I suggest we meet again soon to discuss it."
Try it; let us know what happens, knowing that the potential productivity gains are enormous. In the United States alone, an estimated 11 million meetings are held on a typical workday. Having the right words to move quickly is crucial. As everyone knows, the shortest meetings are the best. Clemenceau wouldn't have disagreed.
François Kermoal.
LEntreprise.com
Published June 25, 2013.
Posted online July 16, 2013.
"To kill a bill, I create a committee," said Clemenceau. He could just as well have said, "I organize a meeting."
But don't worry: there's no inevitability, according to a study (cited by The Wall Street Journal) by two statistics researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). They analyzed the minutes of several dozen meetings in detail to understand how the decision-making process worked.
Their goal? To better understand when key decisions were actually made. I'll skip the details of their study, which you can find here, with all the complicated algorithms and formulas that come with it. We'll simply remember from their work that certain keywords spoken during meetings have tremendous power to move things forward...
Yeah, Great!
The first of these words, being an American study, is "yeah." Said like that, it's not great, but if you practice finding the right tone by adding a little enthusiasm, the word does work as a kind of approval.
Other words that show a meeting is progressing well: "give," "menu," "start," or "discuss." All very logical. You've been warned. If your meetings drag on, here's what you can say: "Yeah, great! Okay, I think we've given all we could give. What's on the menu now? Most importantly, when do we start? I suggest we meet again soon to discuss it."
Try it; let us know what happens, knowing that the potential productivity gains are enormous. In the United States alone, an estimated 11 million meetings are held on a typical workday. Having the right words to move quickly is crucial. As everyone knows, the shortest meetings are the best. Clemenceau wouldn't have disagreed.
François Kermoal.
LEntreprise.com
Published June 25, 2013.
Posted online July 16, 2013.
