It’s just another Monday morning meeting. But before you know it, someone has started a tangent that has pulled others into a separate line of conversation and now the meeting is in jeopardy of getting off track. You might recognize this classical meeting debacle: it’s when someone starts speaking extensively about something semi-related to the topic but not directly relevant to the task at hand and the focus of the meeting begins to go out the window.
Though the tangent is a real obstacle to a productive meeting, there are simple ways to prevent one from derailing your meeting whether you’re the meeting leader or an active participant. Put yourself in this seat:
You’ve volunteered to be the note taker from today’s meeting and are diligently tracking everything that’s being decided. Then Vijay says, “We need to document our ideas in the new content management system.” Another colleague, Beckett, says, “Yes, but the new system doesn’t work. Last week our team lost several documents.” And then Jamal adds, “Same thing happened here. Hey, have you guys gotten training the new version yet? I’m still confused about which one we should be using.”
Before you know it, the topic is about the new system and no new thoughts have been recorded about the original issue you were trying to tackle in the meeting: an upcoming program rollout. What to do?
This is one of many topics I often tackle when designing customized trainings for clients on how to improve the quality of team interactions during meetings or through collaboration. Here are strategies you can use in your next meeting to minimize tangents:
- You could say, “I think we definitely uncovered a potential challenge here. I’ll document that in my notes, but for the sake of time, I would like to hear what other ideas exist about the program rollout.”
- If the group still has trouble focusing, you could use a “parking lot” on a flip chart or on the meeting agenda to hold some of these extra issues should this or other topics keep surfacing. Assign someone to own the items for follow up. This signals that topics will be discussed, but only for the purpose of action or resolution.
- You may also suggest that the individuals who were involved in the tangent connect after the meeting to exchange their ideas and feedback about the off-meeting topic. It might sound like this: “That situation certainly sounds frustrating and worthy of further exploration. Beckett, maybe you and Jamal should connect after the meeting to compare feedback and see about next steps. That being said, I don’t think we got to hear your ideas about the new program rollout before the other issue came up. What would you like to add regarding the rollout?”
No matter the challenge, staying on track is key to achieving the goals of any meeting. Considering we spend between 35 and 50 percent of our time participating in meetings, it’s in everyone’s best interests to look for ways to maximize the value of that time together. With a few simple strategies in hand, anyone can help ensure your next meeting is a productive one.
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Shelly Price is the Principal Consultant and President of Human Capital Next, LLC, which focuses on human resources project consulting services. Shelly specializes in custom training and leadership development and facilitation, culture and engagement survey and assessment, and employee relations. Shelly holds an MBA degree and is certified to use the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator® (MBTI) Instrument, FourSight® Thinking Profile, and DiSC® assessment. She holds a Senior Professional in Human Resources (SPHR) designation from the HR Certification Institute and is an Organization Development Certified Professional from the Institute of Organization Development in Fort Myers, Florida.
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