Silent Meetings

Research has shown that in certain situations silent meetings actually work better. Specifically, if the goal of a meeting is to brainstorm or solve a problem, silent meetings have been shown to generate better ideas. But why? Solutions to a problem will often be a novel idea and novel ideas challenge convention. They can rock the boat and make people feel uncomfortable. But when participants gather around a table and generate written solutions in silence, a safe space is created. Novel ideas can emerge and people are less afraid of feeling embarrassed. Silent meetings also circumvent negative effects of something called production blocking. In a conventional meeting, only one person at a time can speak. As you wait your turn, the conversation may shift and you may lose your opportunity to raise an idea. Silent meetings allow for everyone to express ideas simultaneously. So how do you create a silent brainstorming meeting? Have people write down their ideas independently then sort them into clusters, discuss, and vote on the ideas that people like. The key is to let the initial ideation phase happen independently and in silence so we can separate egos from ideas. Silence is just one alternative. Since meetings have different goals, there's no reason they all have to look or sound the same.