The rise of the silent meeting

Meetings are indispensable to the functioning of any organisation. Whilst some people love them, there are just as many who hate them and see them as endless drains on their time, a hinder their productivity or the cause of their anxiety and stress.

Meetings are organised to share and exchange information. But are all meetings effective? Are all attendees equally proactive? Are all presentations engaging? Often the more introverted members of the team aren’t confident enough to put their views forward whilst the more extrovert just don't stop talking. Frequently meeting preparation isn’t done so people are guessing at what was proposed and are putting forward ideas that aren’t based on the complete picture. This all leads to time wasting, less knowledge sharing and the introverts hating meetings even more. But meetings do have their place so simply eliminating them isn’t an option hence the rise of the silent meeting.

Silence at work is often thought to be something that should be avoided so meetings often involve a lot of mindless chatter. But some companies have started to put silence at the forefront of what they do. Instead of the traditional bullet-pointed presentation kicking things off, meetings start with everyone studying a short document to access all the information. They can then make their own notes and think through their point of view before expressing it.

This process might seem to take up a large chunk of the allocated time but, because everyone has fully understood the information before they speak, repetition or confusion is cut out and only what’s really necessary gets discussed. Meetings therefore don’t take as long to conduct and are more productive. Silent meetings also give everyone the chance to speak and share their ideas which is especially important for quieter, more introverted team members who tend to stand back if other more confident people monopolise the conversation.

Silent meetings work in many forms and generally are better for remote attendees, non-native speakers, introverts and often for attendee equality. They operate equally well face-to-face or virtually so why not see if it works for your organisation.

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