While there are inevitably some meetings that could have just been an email, getting everyone together to discuss goals, projects or next steps is a critical part of moving a business forward.
Perhaps nothing can be more frustrating than a meeting that is not productive. As it drags on and on, you’re left thinking of your to do list and ways you could be better spending your time. In a recent Harvard Business Review article, executive coach Luis Velasquez, founder of Velas Coaching LLC, identified four dysfunctional meeting behaviors under the acronym GAAS.
- Gravity problems: “These occur when team members get sucked into discussing a challenge or issue that’s fundamentally unsolvable at the team level, much like the force of gravity,” Velasquez wrote.
- Assumption overload: This one can be two-fold. Too many assumptions can lead the team to make bad decisions, but Velasquez also notes team members can make incorrect assumptions about the motivations of others, harming the group’s overall collaboration.
- Annoying negative thoughts: Velasquez identifies several “unproductive thinking patterns” that can harm meetings, including all-or-nothing thinking, overgeneralization, catastrophizing and emotional reasoning.
- Squirrel chasing: It is easy for even a meeting with a clear agenda to get off track on a tangential topic. Even if everyone in the meeting is involved in the unrelated issue, it is not the focus of the meeting and takes away from the task at hand.
Velasquez suggests emphasizing focus and clarity to prevent meeting dysfunction: determine the primary objective, reframe goals as inquiry-driven statements and invite the right team members. Different meetings require different attendees. For brainstorming, you’ll want a range of backgrounds and perspectives, but for a decision-making meeting, bringing in the brainstorming group may introduce GAAS behaviors.
