Innovation Can Begin With A Perfectly Staffed Meeting

by Travis Sheridan

Staff meetings are not generally thought of as hot beds of innovation. They are typically a series of departmental reports and contain few interactive or productive elements. Participants don’t actually participate. They sit and pretend to listen. While many people have talked at length about the importance of a solid agenda and clear action items, very few have discussed the importance of creative roles during a meeting. The creative roles get to join the facilitator and recorder to round out the perfect team. Meetings can actually spur innovation if they include a charter, a devil’s advocate and a process-checker to the team.

The charter is responsible for visually capturing the content of the meeting. This person can actively participate by creating mind maps of agenda items and identifying new connections between points of discussion. The charter does not require the artistic skill of Rembrandt or the ability to maneuver around a flipchart like a seasoned consultant. This person needs to let the information flow through the pen and on to the paper. The benefit of a charter is the ability to collect numerous comments and points quickly. Having this information visually available allows the other participants to make strategic and innovative connections. It may initially appear unorthodox; however, the charter will bring new information to light and engage those within the group who are visual learners. The organization will begin to develop an archive of charted meetings which can be revisited annually in an effort to see larger trends or innovative themes emerge.

They are loved by some and despised by others. They are the devil’s advocate. This role is necessary to keep progress at the forefront. All too often meetings are a collection of people going through the motions. As soon as the meeting begins, people circle the adjournment time on the agenda. The devil’s advocate keeps things stirred up. They offer the voice of opposition and contradiction. The intent is to provoke meaningful discussion and thinking. The first option may not be the best solution and the devil’s advocate serves to move the team toward the best solution not simply the convenient solution. This also communicates to the group that smiling and nodding or being overly agreeable is not the path to success. If this role is assigned then others are encouraged to offer a voice of dissention as well. Conflict is the path toward innovation.

What happens when all the agenda items have been discussed? People get up and leave. The meeting is over. At the end of the meeting is where the process-checker steps in. During the meeting they have been keeping track of things that worked and things that didn’t. The process-checker is provided time at the end to share his or her observations. Maybe the bagels were delicious, maybe the devil’s advocate was too agreeable, or maybe the facilitator did not stick to the agenda. The process-checker shares the good and bad. Meetings get better when strengths and weaknesses are analyzed and shared.

All three new roles bring creativity into the meeting environment and drive innovation. Departmental reports can be shared via email. Things should get done during a meeting and people should be engaged. Ideally the proposed roles will rotate among participants. Give others the chance to make visual connections, be the voice of dissent, or keep an eye on the process. Not only will meetings become more productive but better decisions will be made.

Travis Sheridan is the assistant vice president of innovation and entrepreneurship for the St. Louis Economic Development Partnership. A writer and speaker, he focuses on using innovation as a driver for economic and community development. Follow him on Twitter @TravisSheridan.