I found one of my clients running meetings by announcing the topic and stating her opinion about the solution to it as she kicked off the discussion. And she was giving the topic one whole meeting to solve the challenge she and her team were facing. She was falling into an action-oriented trap.



I'm all for quick solutions and clear plans. However, she didn't recognize she was missing all the information available in the experience and intelligence around the table.

The purpose of the meeting was to set the direction for her staff for the next six months. She wanted it all laid out in 60 minutes so everyone could 'get on with getting work done.' That urgency had her staff throwing out lots of action ideas. Lots of head nodding was happening before the measurable goals for all the action were named.

As a result of our work together, she's now using the 3 Keys of High Payoff Silence that result in much more powerful and profitable plans and solutions.

1 - Build In Silence To Get Participation

We've all been trained to have instant answers when questions are posed to us. It starts in grade school and follows us right into our adult business lives. Our ongoing challenge is to probe to see if the answers are actually addressing the intended question.

If you're running a meeting to explore new answers, new solutions, new ideas, your role should be to pose the question, ensure it is clearly understood by everyone, and to monitor that the discussion stays on topic.

By your skillful use of 'silence' in the rest of the time you are asking everyone else at the meeting to actually discuss the issue and not just agree with ideas you may add, or fling their quick answers on the table.

2 - Build In Silence To Get A Range Of Ideas On The Table

Different personalities work with information in different ways. Regardless of the education level, and even the specific discipline of the people around the table, some folks are talkers, some are solvers, and some are synthesizers of ideas. When my clients work purely from the ideas of the talkers and solvers at their meeting, they're often missing the meat.

Don't let the talkers set the agenda or control the content of your meetings. The ideas of the talkers and solvers may be perfectly good ideas, but the synthesizers often note to themselves what has been missed. Synthesizers are comfortable sitting in silence and thinking about what they are hearing. If they're not invited into the conversation they won't bother to try to get a word in edgewise. You'll never know it because they'll move on to other things after the meeting.

Manage the discussions rather than letting them be free flowing. Use techniques like Round Robin to professionally and politely ensure that everyone has the opportunity to bring their thoughts to the light of day. You'll get the full value of everyone's time, intelligence and efforts.

3 - Build In Silence To Get Innovation Into Your Plan

The first pass of ideas, answers, and suggestions should never be your last pass. Rather, it should be considered a warm up brainstorming exercise. It's sort of like shaking off the quick answers so that the rich ones can come to the light of day.

I've taught my clients over the years that the ideas that make it onto the table during the first meeting are usually only the 80% complete. When everyone pushes away from the table, their minds have the opportunity to chew on the ideas they've offered and they've heard.

Create breaks in the discussion so that everyone's unconscious and subconscious can join the discussion. Those breaks can be 15 minutes for light topics, or 1-2 weeks for critical complicated issues. During that gestation period is usually when the extra 20% of innovative brilliance has the chance to find its voice. And that's where the ideas for how to make it happen faster, easier, in new ways peek out from behind all those quick answers.

When you use these 3 Keys you'll unlock the solutions and profits that have been hiding in the minds of everyone around the table.

Copyright (c) 2008 Linda Feinholz