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Writer's pictureAlbert Durig

Conscious Meeting Modes: What They Are and How to Leverage Them.

Have you heard of Conscious Meeting Facilitation? It's an approach to designing and facilitating meetings to raise productivity, effectiveness and engagement outcomes. Conscious meeting facilitation transforms the meeting experience into one of achievement and motivation. But what exactly does “conscious meeting facilitation” mean?Conscious meeting facilitation means that every aspect of the meeting’s design, preparation and facilitation is conducted with awareness of a meeting's multiple dimensions. It means operating with a heightened awareness for mindsets and behaviors that impact a meeting’s outcomes – whether positively or negatively. One important dimension for harnessing value and effectiveness in your meetings is an awareness of meeting modes and how to leverage them. This article is about being conscious of meeting modes, what they are and how to leverage them.


What are meeting modes? They are different types of interactions and behaviors that occur in business meetings. When aware of these modes, leveraging them helps to make progress in most types of business meetings. In fact, if you consider all the different types of behavior and interaction that matter for a business meeting, they can all be placed into three categories.


MEETING MODES

Most meetings, regardless of their type, have three requirements for interaction: to inform, to discuss, and to decide.

Once we understand the purpose and desired outcome of each mode, a facilitator can more effectively guide interaction toward a meaningful outcome. The role of the facilitator is to help the participants be aware of the meeting mode they need to be in to serve their desired outcome and to then take specific actions to realize the fulfillment of that mode before going on to another one. Let’s take a look at each of the three meeting modes.


1. To Inform

The purpose of this mode is to share information with others. Plain and simple, it is about relaying information, knowledge and/or concepts to participants for the sake of making them aware of the information. In this mode, what matters most is to make sure that all participants clearly understand what they are being informed of. Facilitators can first help the participants be aware that they are entering into "Inform" mode. By doing so, the facilitator establishes the purpose of this mode, aligning participants behind it. As the "informing" occurs, it is the role of the faciitator to check with participants that they are truly understanding the information being relayed to them and not just hearing it.


2. To Discuss

The purpose of this meeting mode is to share and debate perspectives and to build on one another’s ideas. For this mode, it’s important to make sure that all participants have equal chances for their voices and beliefs to be heard. As with all modes, the facilitator's first role is to make participants aware that they are entering into this mode and to clearly set the purpose and desired outcome of this mode, which is to voice, inquire and explore. As the discussion progresses, the facilitator should make sure that all participants (especially the quiet ones) have had a chance to voice their opinion, beliefs or concerns. In discuss mode, it's all about making sure all voices have been heard.

3. To Decide

After people have been informed, and all pertinent discussions have been had, there comes a time when a decision needs to be made. The role of conscious meeting facilitation is to make sure that participants are consciously adhering to a decision-making method or model, decided upon before the decision is to be taken. After the facilitators checks with participants to verify that they are ready to enter into "Decide" mode, they should help participants define how they are going to make a decision. Who has decision making rights? Will the decision be made by all of us discussing, but only the boss deciding? Or will all of us discuss and all of us decide? If that's the case, then the facilitator will need to facilitate a consensus building method. Or perhaps we will all discuss, but someone else in the room will decide. Before making any decision as a group, the facilitator can greatly help the participants by clearly identifying the range of options or directions to be chosen from. The clearer the options are made, the easier it is to move forward. It's always a good idea to write the options down on a flip chart or on the screen if in a virtual meeting, so that all participants are clear on what options are available.


CONCLUSION

Conscious meeting facilitation begins by establishing the right mindsets, which then inform behaviors that result in more effective meetings. Conscious meeting facilitation helps people remain aware of their choices to adhere to these mindsets and behaviors. When planning your next meeting, understanding the three meeting modes, can greatly enhance the effectiveness of your meeting. Meeting modes can become mindsets by which people and teams learn to operate more effectively in meetings. The three meeting modes required for most business meetings are, To Inform, To Discuss, and To Decide. Each mode has it's own unique purpose and outcome. With awareness of these modes, facilitators can drive greater effectiveness into a business meeting, making sure people are truly understanding content, having a voice in all discussions, and participating in decision making with clarity.

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