Want Better Ideas? Put Your Blinders On.

Most people will urge a group that's trying to create something new to throw caution to the wind, to allow any thought to be heard, to leap out of their comfort zone. I beg to differ. I believe that the most powerful communication between people, whether one to one, or one to many, occurs only when everyone is intently focused on the communication taking place. There can be no distractions, no mental wandering. If you want a truly productive meeting, I say put your blinders on.

I have been turning these thoughts around in my head because I recently facilitated a planning session for a trade association. They needed to create goals for the next year and a strategy to achieve those goals, and they only had four hours to do it. To tell the end of the story at the beginning: it was a tremendously productive half day session that resulted in a concrete plan, complete with what they would do, who would be the responsible party, and when the deadline would be.

I have facilitated hundreds of planning sessions over my career, and this was one of the most effective. It took me a little while to figure out why, because I’m suspicious when things go so well. The answer finally came to me: the people in that room brought their A-game to the meeting and left their Blackberries in their briefcases. They were – to a person – interested in and committed to the goals set out in that conference room. They wanted the best for their association, and they were willing to focus on the task at hand to get it.

There were no under-the-table texts sent. No wandering in and out to take a call. No whispered sidebars. No daydreaming. All the extraneous noise that we live with every minute of the day was, for just four little hours, filtered out. It was remarkable and rare. And exceedingly productive.

Having an effective facilitator helps, of course. But the meeting participants were ready to pull in the same direction from the moment they walked in, and the results showed it. So, next time you’re running a meeting or simply participating in one, bring your focus and ask everyone else to do the same. The earth will not stop spinning on its axis if emails and phone calls and personal agendas are briefly put on hold.