1.
Never compete with the group members:
Most people object to this rule at first,
saying, “But I have ideas, too. Isn’t it more constructive for me to put them
in the pot?” This is an important point; you do not want to lose any ideas that might be useful.
However, it usually happens that if you contribute your own ideas throughout the meeting, you
will unconsciously favor them. When the group members sense this favoritism,
their sense of commitment will be reduced, and the probability of the meeting
being successful drops. Accordingly, I believe that specific times should be
set aside when you can contribute your own ideas:
- During
the explanation phase and the solution phase just before the vacation.
- At
the end of the vacation, but only after you have restated a member’s idea
and thus demonstrated your support. (If you thoroughly understand what the
member has in mind and can think of a way to build on it or add to it, go
ahead.)
- Finally,
after all other ideas have been thoroughly explored.
The general rule, thus, is to give all
members’ ideas precedence over your own.
2.
Listen to the group members:
Permit the speaker to paint any picture he
wishes; your aim is to understand his point of view. It is good practice to
paraphrase a member’s points to be sure you understand them to his
satisfaction. (The chairman of the dog-food case example used this technique.)
This sounds easy, but it’s not. You will catch yourself making judgments,
tuning out, evoking your own thoughts, and otherwise failing to really comprehend
what the speaker is saying.
The importance of listening cannot be
overemphasized. Skill in good listening has a pervasive effect on the group’s
productivity. During your tenure as chairman, you must carry out repeated
transactions with each member. You must listen to each person and prove that
you understand. You must establish your intent: “My job is to understand what
you have in mind and help your thought along. I am not here to make a
judgment.” This posture satisfies group members and also creates an atmosphere
in which all ideas are considered worthy of group consideration.
3.
Don’t permit anyone to be put on the defensive:
Assume there is value in any notion a member
offers; search out that value, no matter how wild or irrelevant the statement
may appear. Keep your finger on the psychological pulse of each member. You
must watch out in particular for the apparently lighthearted defensive remark.
Humor and laughter are often used as a before-the-fact defense against attack,
and a member will often retreat with a comment such as “I wasn’t really serious
about this idea.” A good leader also probes any laughter he hears because the
elegance of an emerging idea may be intuitively pleasing before anyone is
consciously aware of what the idea really is. The value of these intuitive
urgings must not be underestimated.
There are a number of procedures at your
disposal for reinforcing an atmosphere of nondefensive response:
- In
accepting a metaphorical contribution (such as “thunderhead”), never
require a justification. For example, if Mr. C suggests “fireplug” as a
response to your question, “Can you think of an example of a striking
image in the world of weather?” treat it as though it is just as
appropriate a response as “thunderhead.”
- If
one group member disagrees with another’s statement during the vacation,
accept both points of view as being potentially useful. Suppose a group is
examining “filibuster”:
Mr. D: “A filibuster goes counter to the
intent of the democratic process and should not be permitted.”
Mr. C: “I don’t see it that way at all. It
permits a determined minority who may be right to bring concentrated attention
to its dissent. They may even effect a compromise.”
Record both thoughts; you can’t determine
ahead of time which will prove to be the more valuable.
- At
the end of the vacation, at solution time, you may have to enforce the
spectrum policy. If you see that a member (the expert is an especially
likely person) is going to respond negatively, interrupt him to say, “Mr.
B, tell us what you like about what Mr. D
said.”
- When
an idea falters, try to keep it alive by stressing its generality, trying
for understanding, and asking for help. Suppose, for example, a group is
trying to invent a thermos closure to replace the customary cork (it must
be integral and loss-proof, and market tests have shown that the obvious
suggestions—hinges, chains, and strings—are not acceptable):
Mr. A: “Well, of course you could always use
springs.”
Mr. B: “Isn’t that a hinge?”
Chairman: “Let’s not be too concerned with the
hinge problem for the moment. Mr. A, what do you have in mind?”
Mr. A: “I’m not sure, but I thought we could
use some sort of a spring that would hold the thing closed.”
Chairman: “You know, this spring idea is
intriguing. A spring has, in a sense, two positions—in one it has stored
energy, and in the other the energy is released. Can we use this fact to help
us?”
Mr. A: “This idea of two different
positions—one might be open and the other closed.”
Mr. C (drawing): “How about this! The spring
has a membrane on one side, and each end of the spring is attached to the side
of the mouth here and here. You have a knob sticking up to work it. In the open
position the spring pushes against this side. When it’s closed, it’s against
the other side, and the membrane covers the mouth.”
Mr. D: “We could make the membrane out of
closed-pore sponge and get insulation.”
By protecting Mr. A’s initial idea from Mr. B
and by building on it and asking for help, you will have kept a weak idea alive
until it has gained strength.
- If,
after every attempt at building has been made, an idea is still lacking in
substance, do not finally condemn it. Say, for example, “OK, we can’t seem
to use this idea of making bowl-shaped dog food right now. Let’s put it
aside, and maybe it will help us later.”
This is not idle politeness. I often see an
idea that has been put aside early in a meeting reappear in a later context in
which it becomes a key element in a possible solution.
- Avoid
pinning down an individual. Do not say, “Mr. A, give me an example of a
striking image in the world of weather.” Rather, address such a request to
the entire group. No one should be pressured to produce an analogy;
chances are this will only make him defensive.
4. Use
every member of the group:
Nearly every group has talkative members and
quiet members; you cannot afford to miss the contributions that the quiet ones
can make. Once you have identified a quiet member, be careful not to pin him
down; but when you ask for a response, you might rest your eyes on him first,
going on to the others only when he gives no response.
You will also, on occasion, have a member who
tries to dominate the meeting. He will have immediate responses and will go
into endless detail if you listen. These people are usually bright and
valuable, but they can ruin a meeting if permitted to run free. You must
control such a person without alienating him (given rotation, he may be your
boss). Here are three methods we have found useful in dealing with such
situations:
- When
you believe that you understand the points he is making, say something
like “Thank you, I’ve got it.”
- Avoid
the compulsive talker’s eyes when you ask for a response.
- More
drastically, when you ask for a response, look at someone other than the
talker and hold up your hand to the latter in a casual stop sign.
If none of these methods is effective, and if
it is impractical to have a frank talk with the dominating member, ask him to
listen to a tape recording of the meeting. That usually does it.
5. Keep
the energy level high:
This may seem to be an impossible assignment,
but it is not. The energy of a group depends on many things, including some you
cannot control (such as a member’s hangover). But there is much you can do
toward keeping interest high. Here are some suggestions that I have seen work:
- Your
interest, alertness, and intensity are contagious; so when you take over
leadership, give it your best. Don’t be reluctant to use body English to
underscore your involvement with the group. Move around, move close to the
member who’s talking, use your hands—anything that’s comfortable for you
will help to keep the group active.
- Select
areas (nature, weather) and examples that are of interest to you. If you
are caught up in the proceedings, you will show it, and your team will
respond accordingly.
- Keep
the meeting moving at a fast pace. Don’t spend too long on any one step.
Watch the members of the group closely. You can quickly spot the
beginnings of boredom and counteract it.
- Humor
is invaluable. If amusing associations occur to you, bring them out. When
members joke, show that you enjoy it too—if you really do, that is. You
are probably not a professional comedian, on the other hand, so don’t try
to be. Just be yourself, encourage humor, but don’t let the meeting
degenerate into a storytelling session.
- Challenge
is good. Ask difficult questions, such as “Give me an example of
convenience from the world of geography.”
- Surprise
the group. When you are comfortable with the steps (statement,
suggestions, vacation, solutions), mix them up. Experiment with possible
solutions from unexpected points. For instance, if you have had
interesting metaphorical responses, go immediately to possible solutions.
If you sense that the team is on vacation accidently, as it were, and that
their minds have been away from the problem, go to possible solutions.
Both the element of surprise and a fast-moving meeting are particularly
important right after lunch or late in the afternoon, when a group is
likely to be tired.
6. Keep
the members informed about where they are and what is expected of them:
Here are some methods for doing this:
- Keep
progress notes on the easel pads.
- When
you move from one step to another, make this clear by the questions you
ask and by what you write on the pad.
- When
the group is deeply involved in a discussion of a metaphorical point,
restate where you are when you want to go on to another response. (This
helps to keep the meeting moving and helps keep the team with you.)
7. Keep
your eye on the expert:
When the members are moving toward a solution,
watch the expert’s reactions with great care. Always enforce the spectrum
policy; but when the expert shows interest in an idea, try to give him more of
whatever he wants. And if he responds to a line of speculation, urge him to
take over.
Most of the time the group as a whole will
produce only tenuous conclusions at this late stage. If the expert is working
hard, he will be listening for clues—statements which are suggestive of a new
approach. These may not be valid in themselves, but with his depth of knowledge
he may be able to reshape them into valuable ideas.
8.
Remember that you are not permanent:
Since a meeting is more effective with a
leader than without one, and since each member, perhaps unconsciously, wants to
be a leader, I have suggested a compromise: rotation of leadership. One great
benefit of rotation is the chastening and beneficial effect it has on the
chairman who has been accustomed to exercising his power and authority in the
traditional way.
Experiments with this procedure have produced
valuable effects other than this one. When you know you will get your chance to
lead, you are more willing to commit yourself to a path of thought even if you
are critical of it. This rotation procedure breeds strong motivation in a
member to stay with an idea and to cooperate with the present chairman. You
learn conclusively that if you doze and doodle while Mr. A leads, Mr. A’s mind
will be elsewhere when you lead. Every leader discovers that he badly needs all
the support he can get.
The rotation of leadership not only adds a
vital interest to the meeting, it demonstrates as well that the manager is
concerned with developing subordinates. In the final analysis, the manager
gives up none of his authority and responsibility. He has added to the data
available for discovering a course of action. He has also made it clear that
the contributions of his subordinates are valued; this results in increased
satisfaction, self-regard, and interest.
9. Do
not manipulate the group:
First of all, manipulation is an extremely
difficult thing to get away with—in most meetings members are only too aware
that you may try to lead them down the garden path, and they are very resentful
of such an approach. Furthermore, manipulation seems to be destructive to the
main purpose of the meeting, which is to bring valuable creativity to bear on a
problem of real importance. If you know in advance what conclusions you want
the group to reach, you obviously have no real motive or inclination to generate
creative discussion.
On the other hand, you do have clear,
legitimate authority and responsibility to make certain choices in procedure;
these choices aim the members’ minds in a specific direction. But beyond that
you must not ask leading questions or try to control responses to suit your own
taste. Similarly, as I mentioned previously, you should be careful to avoid
choosing one of your own statements of the problem at the start of the meeting.
Such a choice will signal the group that you are serving yourself. You should
contribute problems but not use your own. If your problem statement is good,
some leader will eventually use it.
10.
Work hard at the technique of chairmanship:
Complete abstention from manipulation is
difficult but critical. People ask, “How can I project energy and enthusiasm
when I don’t feel either? Isn’t it faking if I do?” or, “When the group is not
giving me interesting responses, what do I do then—pretend?” No, you try!
Between learning the procedures and mastering
them, there often comes a time of some frustration. The newness of the method
has worn off, but you have not yet perfected your chairmanship technique. This
is the time when boredom and disillusionment may be greatest. After continued
use of the method and some experiment with wording your responses to the group,
you begin to devote your attention more to what is happening and less to the
method. The meetings will begin to move more naturally both for you and for the
other group members, and will become more enjoyable as a result. For instance,
as you develop skill in listening, you will discover that you hear more things
that interest you.
It is like playing football. At first, when
the team drills and struggles with the mechanics, it is hard work. Later, when
the players no longer need to devote energy to learning the rules and the
plays, it becomes more fun. Then the team can work together harmoniously and
effectively, taking increasing pleasure in the group sport of winning football
games.
I do not believe you will need to fake
enthusiasm; in time, you will bring it with you to the meeting and it will act
like yeast for the whole group. With their enthusiasm will come more
provocative and more constructive and usable responses.
