Do you talk beyond the point of contribution?

I was facilitating a training class this week and asked participants one thing they loved and hated about meetings. Meetings are SOOOO expensive and it is important that every meeting should help move things forward with top velocity. One participant said she hates it when people talk beyond the point of contribution. What a great way to phrase a common problem!!! I told her it would make a great blog post title and here it is.

Twitter is just 140 characters. The best blog posts are often short and saturated quickly get to the point. Should the same logic apply to meeting conversations?

Well, sort of. Yes, with a caveat. I am a proponent of great and deep conversation. That said, there is usually someone almost every most meetings has at least one over participator - someone who does not know how to make a clear and concise point at every meeting.

We have the "little book" from Strunk and White to help us learn how to write concisely. Where do we go to learn how to speak concisely? How does one best learn how to make a point and then STOP TALKING? It's not The Dale Carnegie Course or Toastmasters, these teach presentation more than conversation skills.

Perhaps we would get be better at talking right up to the point of highest contribution more effective if we wrote our thoughts down ahead of time. Those extra words and phrases (and circular thought patterns) are so much more obvious when you write, read, and then edit your messages. 

Give it a try. Write what you want to say and then cut, cut, cut until you can make your point with 50% fewer words. I could go on about going on, but that would be rather ironic, now wouldn't it? But be careful not to strikethrough the best parts, OK?

Comments

[Mike Wagner]

Yes!

[Heather]

Very apt - I really enjoyed reading that. Entertaining, and makes it's point known. Good job!

[Dick Richards]

Oh man. I love this Lisa.

[lisa haneberg]

Mike, Heather, and Dick. So glad you like the post.

[Rosa Say]

Lisa, you rock. Again.

[lisa haneberg]

Thanks Rosa! this post has made me think about MY tendency to be a story teller and perhaps, sometimes, on occasion, if I am on a roll, talk beyond the point of contribution.

[Clay Ward]

Shortest blog post comments ever!

R U suggesting that people tweet their meeting statements before saying them?

[lisa haneberg]

Well, Clay, that might not be a bad idea for those companies that are tech savvy enough for that. And for the others, the "spirit" of a tweet-sized response is interesting.

[Sue]

Thomas Jefferson once said: "The most valuable of all talents is that of never using two words when one will do." Brilliant!

[lisa haneberg]

Sue - great quote, thanks so much. This is such a different mindset and I know many people define leadership as TALKING. Which it is not, of course.

[Mike]

Many years ago I learned that there's an important distinction between speaking to express and speaking to impress. Having a conscious bias for the latter is a helpful tool in these situations.

(I could probably get that down 25 words or less)

Mike

[Torie Russell]

This was very well said. There have been so times I have sat in a meeting and rolled my eyes back in my head, thinking, "Just get to the point!" But, I also know that especially if information is new, or complex, it can take several ways of expressing something before everyone gets it. We listen to things in different ways, and I worry that brief fast snippets like twitter bytes don't really engage people to work creatively and with each other from a deep place of listening. There is an interesting video with Werner Erhard talking about why we do what we do as human beings, and how the context of where we come from and how we listen matters. You might find it interesting. Why We Do What We Do: A New Model Providing Actionable Access to the Source of Performance

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