What’s become of our meetings and where next?

Meetings are an essential part of business, and a little over a year ago, the rulebook was ripped up. We learned new technology, new etiquette and perhaps unlearned some ‘received wisdom’ about what meetings were for and how they needed to be run.

So, what has the pandemic taught us about how we meet? With many organisations moving to hybrid working, how do we make meetings work, going forward?

Start with the ‘why’ – it informs the ‘who’

With so many meetings moving online, one of the positive reported changes in behaviour is the death of the blanket invitation according to job title or where people sit in the office. It’s essential to know – and share – the purpose of the meeting before thinking about invitations. Is it to generate new ideas or discuss strategy? Is it a crisis meeting or a final check on the small print?

An awareness of each attendees Belbin Team Roles can help ensure that you’ve got the right people present and can keep meetings small and productive. Need to bounce ideas around? Find those with Plant and Resource Investigator tendencies. Only add Monitor Evaluator influence to the mix once those ideas are ready for scrutiny. Finalising plans and checking the details? You’ll need those with strong Implementer and Completer Finisher behaviours. Keep out the predominant Resource Investigators, as a planning meeting is unlikely to hold their interest.

Name the elephant in the room

During 2020, Belbin conducted a survey to discover how our preferred working styles can influence our experience of virtual meetings. We discovered that those who were meeting exclusively online rated the effectiveness of virtual meetings more highly than those who had adopted hybrid working or remained in the workplace during that time.

It’s unclear whether this was because the exclusively remote group “bought in” and developed strategies to make online meetings more effective or whether the availability of in-person meetings to the remainder shifted perspectives on effectiveness.

What is clear is that the debate around hybrid working is quickly becoming a bipartite conflict and some may be fearing an ‘us and them’ situation between those in the office and those at home. It’s important to be candid about those divisions and to acknowledge - if applicable - that the organisation is feeling its way and trying to align individual needs and preferences with business priorities. Ask for suggestions when it comes to meetings, so that the team has ownership over the solutions to the problems of hybrid working. Be willing to try new things and keep the lines of communication open to identify potential problems arising before they can be allowed to hamper the team’s performance.

Use a common language

The move to virtual working has challenged effective communication. With cameras switched off, we lose body language and other physical cues. When emailing or instant messaging, rather than turning in our seats, we lose tone and inference.

Belbin Team Roles offers a different kind of language, which can help plug this gap and bridge misunderstandings, as well as to recognise and value others’ strengths. When Belbin becomes a shorthand, enthusiastic Resource Investigators can say, “Let’s not ME (Monitor Evaluate) this idea until we’ve found out more,” or an impatient Shaper can state, “Let’s CF this at a later date”. This understanding can help keep foster new kinds of communication, as well as keeping meetings to time, and to the point.

Change the chair

Virtual meetings are an opportunity to change things up and see what works. Those with strong Co-ordinator tendencies (in Belbin terms, people who take a broad outlook and draw out contributions from others) make the most effective chairs, because they give everyone airtime, seek to build towards consensus and don’t get bogged down in details. However, the team’s most effective Co-ordinator might not be the team leader. Working with Team Role strengths provides an opportunity to look beyond hierarchical or functional considerations and shake things up a bit.

Don’t underestimate the informal gathering

With the rise of virtual and hybrid working, informal knowledge sharing has dwindled, because these kind of meetings aren’t the ones scheduled in the diary. We don’t tune in to useful conversations or we’re not given introductions to passers-by, helping us forge new connections and relationships. In our survey, those with Resource Investigator tendencies, who enjoy networking and building new relationships, told us they suffered the most from the lack of those opportunities. Consider mentoring schemes and building communities of practice to help foster tacit knowledge sharing within your organisation.

Know what every person in the room has to offer

Of course, success rides on knowing the behaviours present in your team. Only a Belbin Individual Report can provide the insights you need, but in the meantime, here’s our quick guide to Belbin Team Roles in meetings, not forgetting that each of us has strengths in more than one role!

Next steps

Some of these may sound familiar, but at Belbin, we believe in evidence, not hunch. The only way to find out your Team Roles - and those present in your team - is to complete a Belbin Report. This is how.