A CASE FOR SILENT MEETINGS

A few weeks back, I was a part of a meeting- Ask Leaders Anything (open to all employees).There was no talk,written chat was the only mode of communication.I was astonished at the rate at which questions were asked by employees.I compared it with pre-Covid times when the All hands were held in person when people rarely came forward to ask questions.

Online meetings are a great equalizer but there is more to it. I learned about the concept of Silent meetings while reading the book- 'Always Day One' which quotes Square's product executive Alyssa Henry

"Lots of research says that minorities, women, remote employees & introverts are talked over in meetings &/or have trouble getting their voice heard in traditional meeting culture."

Silent meetings are inclusive.

My curiosity to find more led me to the David Gasca 's work. Read more here "The Silent Meeting Manifesto.." https://bit.ly/38EAoCX
(summary in my sketchnote)

Silent meetings possibly can't replace 1:1 where you need conversations but most of the meetings which require discussions, cover multiple point of views can benefit.

4 steps:
1 Prepare Agenda + Choose facilitator
2 Create a "Table Read" (doc that is read during the meeting)
3 Read + Comment
4 Facilitator Synthesizes + Leads Discussion

My Sketchnote:

My LinkedIn Post:

https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:6777046789905362944/