Most meetings are a waste. But there is 1 which: - Builds ownership - Increases alignment - Strengthens culture - Doesn’t take a lot of work Yet very few teams & leaders conduct them. Open Forums: A post on how you can do them & lessons from doing 100s of them at 321 Foundation.
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WHAT
Definition: ‘A gathering where team members can ask any question to the leadership’ You see them everywhere: politics (town halls), investing (shareholder meetings), social media (AMA). My focus is on how organisations use Open Forums (OF).
HOW
Here’s how we did them…
(A) People involved:
With whole organization: As CEO I would lead the Open Forums (OF) & answer the questions. I would pull in relevant leaders for certain questions With individual teams: The team lead would do them. I would join as needed
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(B) Frequency & Duration
In times of uncertainty (new project, difficult times): Every 2 weeks In times of stability (high clarity & satisfaction, solid leaders in all teams): Every 6 weeks Normally (most common): Every 4 weeks Duration: 45 to 90 mins.
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(C) Collecting Questions
We had an always active link to submit questions (<10% of Qs came this way) 1 week before, we would remind people (30%-40% of Qs) Before the OF, we gave 15 mins to submit questions (~50% Qs) Takeaway: People are busy. Give them many opportunities.
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(D) Anonymity
Many require that the questioner submit their name. Their reasoning: - shows the trust in the team - easier to follow up with individuals They often do Open Forums as a ‘come to the Mike & ask your Q’ I disagree & prefer anonymous & written questions.
Why Anonymous: - Many people hesitate to ask difficult questions publicly (power dynamics). Anonymous questions make it easier for them. - This anonymity is nice to have in good times & critical in bad times. - To follow up, build other systems. We found regular 1-1s most useful.
Why written: - ‘Verbally ask your question’ forums can sometimes become venting sessions - Also they have a tendency to become less about questions & more about ‘point-making’ - Often 1-2 voices dominate the discussion & they might not be representative of the whole group
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(E) Prioritising Questions
The OF organizer would categories Qs & combine repetitive ones. The Qs were either read by the organizer or put up on the screen. Voting The team votes on the Qs to be answered. Not needed, if most Qs will be answered. We used it only a few times.
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(F) Harsh, untrue, abusive Qs
This is a consequence of anonymity. Over 10 years, we only had a few of them. But they do increase with size & in times of difficulty. Our policy was that we would read the harsh & untrue ones as is, but would censor out the abusive ones.
Reasoning: - Questions show what’s on people’s minds. A good way to deal with untruths is to bring them out in open & refute them respectfully but strongly. - We censored abusive questions to not give them a stage. If people wanted answers, they knew abuse was not the way to go.
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(G) My Answering Guidelines:
Answer with openness & clarity I would want if the situation was reversed. For Q with no clear answer, share: - My sense of the situation - Options - Decision criteria-process-timelines For Q with confidential answers: ‘I can’t answer, here’s why’
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4 BIG BENEFITS OF OFs
I did 100s over a decade. Main benefits:
(i) Build ownership
- For ownership, team needs to feel ‘in the know’ - OFs helped a lot
(ii) Increase understanding
- Leaders can get distanced from the team - OFs directly showed me what was on people’s minds
(iii) Model culture
- Most questions concerned a decision or difficult situation - In OFs we modelled how we handle these 2 culture-revealing things
(iv) Handle uncertain situations
- I thought team wanted answers - But I didn’t have them - So I just shared options & process
- This often was enough. - I realised, most people people were not looking for ‘false assurances’. - They just wanted to know my thinking, our plan to tackle this situation & their role. - Additionally, inviting them into the process built a feeling of ‘we are in this together’
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Some leaders might have been spooked by the recent drama at Google/Facebook’s Open Forums. But they are big companies with very different problems than most small & mid-sized firms. For vast majority of teams, OFs will be a huge boon. Also you can trial them with a small group.
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Over 10 years, the most common feedback we got after our open forums: ‘I feel heard, clear & aligned’ As a leader there are very few things you can do that will get this feedback. Open Forums can. Give them a try.