How to Use Meetings as a Catalyst for Change
If you’ve worked in corporate America for at least six months, you’ve likely realized that meetings are a pain point in organizations. Meetings are often poorly run, rarely improved, and a waste of time. When introducing change to an organization, evaluating meetings — how people come together and collaborate — is an easy and surprisingly impactful way to begin. Organizational Change Management (OCM) Consultants can achieve quick wins by improving meetings and illustrating that change is possible. Tricia Conyers, a seasoned Change Management expert and author of The Evolution of Culture-shaping Meetings, recently shared steps that OCMers can take to use meetings as a catalyst for change.
Disrupt the defaults
Change can take time to stick—sometimes years! To deliver quick wins along the way, OCMers can go after the low-hanging fruit by disrupting the default of meetings. Meetings can get stuck in a rut and by observing and evaluating recurring meetings, Change Management Consultants can build rapport with their client by offering opportunities for improvement. OCMers can kick this off by asking:
What meetings currently exist?
What is the purpose of each meeting?
What information is shared in the meetings?
OCMers can then pinpoint opportunities for change, such as if the right audience is in the meetings, as well as introduce basic tools and techniques to improve.
Introduce a new skill that can be practiced
When OCMers introduce new techniques and tools to improve how meetings are run, it allows people to learn practical skills that can be applied in real-life situations, rather than advanced skills that require formal training. It’s on-the-job learning that can quickly and regularly be applied that illustrates that things can be different and there's something fresh about the change initiative or project. People can then get really good, really fast because they’re continuously practicing the skill.
Foster a community of change
Making small, yet measurable, changes to meetings can create unity and ritual within the organization. With different groups of people using the same techniques, a sense of community is established through the new skills that are adopted and executed in the same way. In a short amount of time, people can see success and begin to escape the corrosive mindset of “we’ve always done it this way.”
Create an environment that encourages experimentation
Old habits tend to die hard. If a change initiative is preceded by small, yet impactful changes to meetings, it can result in an environment that is encouraging of experimentation. Given that resistance to change is a major reason that change initiatives fail, when people have confidence in recent improvements to meetings, they’re more likely to be open minded to upcoming changes.
Using meetings as a catalyst for change helps shakes things up in a small way and brings new energy and momentum into an organization. Amazing meetings can shape the culture and inspire new levels of performance in an organization. By disrupting the defaults, introducing a new skill that can be practiced, fostering a community of change, and creating an environment that encourages experimentation, OCMers can drive energy that’s ripe for change. Have you considered using meetings as a catalyst for change?
Contact ChangeStaffing to learn how to use meetings as a catalyst for your upcoming change initiative!
A very special thank you to Tricia Conyers, a seasoned Organizational Change Management Professional, Meeting Designer and Facilitator, for her thought leadership and for collaborating with us on this blog. Tricia offers a self-paced and cohort group based online course that explores the details of transforming your meeting, entitled Lead Meetings That Work. If you are interested in enrolling in this course, please reach out to Tricia at tricia.conyers@islandinspirations.co for a special discount.
Written by Kylette Harrison