Think About It

Pulling the plug on formality can make meetings more productive

How many times have you sat in a business meeting, staring blankly at PowerPoint slide number 37, and wondered whether there isn’t a more productive way to get things done?

Best-selling author David Allen has wondered the same thing. And his book, “Getting Things Done,” offers a new approach to business planning.

Allen says that our most productive thinking is usually conducted on the "back of an envelope." This free thinking is not bound by the inefficient, formal trappings of the tools and processes that the business world doles out on a daily basis.

And yet, that’s not how we conduct most of our meetings. We follow our carefully outlined agendas and click to the next slide. Rarely do we leave adequate time for brainstorming new ideas to make a project more interesting, more profitable, or just more fun. And rarely do we define clear steps and responsibilities to move a project forward.

As a result, Allen says, all too often, the people charged with getting the work done need a second meeting – a "back of the envelope" meeting to work out the details.

Allen suggests changing our meeting style so that we do things more naturally. When we allow ourselves to relax and organize our thoughts and ideas in the way we instinctively process them, we can be far more productive and creative.

Allen breaks down the process of getting anything done into five steps:

1. Defining the purpose or principle
2. Envisioning a desired outcome
3. Brainstorming
4. Organizing
5. Identifying next actions

Instead of thinking about this process in business terms, imagine how it might play itself out as you planned a dinner out with friends. You’d start by figuring out why you were going out – to socialize, celebrate or just to eat. You might consider what you want out of the night – a business contract or a romantic night with a love interest.

From there, you would brainstorm restaurants that fit your purposes, considering the price, popularity and menu of each one. Then, you’d organize, perhaps having your mate make reservations or call a babysitter. Finally, you’d figure out what you need to do next: showering, picking up the babysitter, ordering a pizza for the kids, and driving to the venue.

This five-step process happens without a second thought in our everyday lives. But in business planning, we introduce formal tools that get in the way of this natural course. And that’s why we stall.

Allen’s perspective has caught the attention of several of us at Point of Vision. If you notice a shift in the way we run our meetings, it’s not your imagination. We’re doing our best to implement Allen’s recommendations whenever we meet, whether with clients or just among ourselves. We hope you’ll find, as we have, it’s an ideal method for better productivity, creativity and effectiveness.

Buy "Getting Things Done" at Amazon.com