January
2005
Innovation Tips
...ideas
for building collaborative innovation
=======================================
The Vital Flow of
Face-to-face Meetings
Information needs to be shared; people want and need to know what is going on to make meaningful and informed contributions. Research has shown that open and clear communication is critical to worker satisfaction; people who feel fully informed are much more motivated and satisfied. People are also far more productive and innovative when information flows freely. To keep information open and clear, face-to-face meetings are often essential.
From developing the first user-friendly computer, to building an international equipment company, to bringing an end to World War II, purposeful face-to-face meetings have played a key role.
Established in 1970, the Palo Alto Research Center developed the first user-friendly computer, the first easy-to-learn word processing program, the first local computer network, and the first laser printer. They held weekly meetings to ensure that the right information made it to the right people. In this highly inventive group, there was only one rule that could not be broken: they had to go to the weekly meetings. These were purposeful meetings that allowed everyone to stay informed about the ideas and work of others and eliminated the need for endless reports.
A firm that started as a simple postage meter company more than 80 years ago grew to be an industry leader through the regular use of face-to-face meetings. Pitney Bowes held meetings where people freely challenged the management team. Their forums were designed to get to the truth about important company-wide issues. People clearly understood that the focus of these forums was the continual improvement of the company and they participated candidly without any fear of reprisal.
A brilliant group of scientists and engineers recruited to the Manhattan Project during World War II were initially segregated from each other and kept uninformed about the purpose of their work. They were assigned number-crunching chores and other tedious tasks, which they performed neither quickly nor well. Once informed that they had been recruited for a project that could quickly end World War II, their pace and proficiency accelerated exponentially. They openly shared information in weekly meetings, for only by freely sharing information could they accomplish their Herculean task.
Great tasks can be accomplished and great organizations built by sharing information face to face. Unlike emails or reports, meetings enable people to share information in a lively and dynamic way. But these are not the infamous meetings "for meeting’Äôs sake"—the "practical alternative to work"—enjoyed by sluggish bureaucracies.
Meetings have
the power to propel innovative organizations to phenomenal success if purposes
are clearly stated and ideas and information are honestly shared. These are the
productive and vital forums where information flows freely and where people
make meaningful and informed contributions to their collective work.
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