There tends to be two realities to each situation, objective and subjective. The objective represents what actually happened in a situation. Subjective reflects how we perceive and interpret what happened.
This subjective part has many lenses. The exact same situation 10 people experience will have 10 different subjective viewpoints. At the surface all 10 may seem the same but when we dive into the details, each will bring to light a different perspective.
Think about the number of subjective lenses in a meeting (think of meeting all the way from work to family discussions to community gathering and so on). The meeting may have generated some great dialogue and produced some valuable ideas. But once that meeting closes, we quickly move on to the next thing on our list of to-do’s.
As everyone walks away from the discussion the interesting part is every single member of the conversation has their subjective version of the meeting. This represents a tipping point of great discussions leading to either aligned action or inconsistent action post meeting.
When I reflect on how I’ve invested time to improve meetings I’m involved in, much of my developmental focus has been centered around creating an open environment for good healthy dialogue (including healthy conflict). Create space for everyone to bring their authentic voice. To take it one step further, an area I need to invest more time in is how to make sure these open conversations lead to consistent actionable takeaways that the group understands.
One adjustment is to leave more time at the end of discussions to create clarity of next steps (or create clarity after each main topic is discussed). While we may have all heard the same dialogue in the meeting, it doesn’t guarantee we interpret next steps the same. This time at the end of each main topic discussed or end of each meeting to provide clear and concise takeaways can help bring all these subjective stories together. Without this time of clarity, we all risk leaving the discussion and running the course based on our own subjective lens which can turn a great discussion into confusion on actionable items.
This concept of taking time to reflect on next steps and creating clarity is nothing groundbreaking. Yet, many of us get into rhythm where we’re having great dialogue and all of a sudden time runs out and we run onto the next meeting. It’s easy to move onto the next meeting and then our subjective lens creates a playback of what we just discussed and how we each perceive takeaways.
Instead of sprinting to the next thing, maximize the time we all just spent discussing important topics. Allow time for clarity to converge subjective lens into clarity. Ideas are great. Healthy dialogue is great. Even more important is the aligned action that can come from these ideas and open conversations.
Take your step: this week any meeting you’re in or leading, recommend time for clarity. If you’re leading a meeting, make it part of the agenda. If you’re a participant, at the end of a major topic ask for confirmation on what you view as next steps so you can help provide space for clarity.