Mission Improbable: Getting buy in with a big cross-team meeting
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We’ve all been in those meetings with 10 people from 7 different teams. No real agenda or prep and a giant problem to solve. It’s no surprise they often fail.
Getting colleagues to agree on and get behind a plan of action is hard. Especially if the reporting lines are all over the place because each area is facing unique and equally pressing issues of their own.
One typical solution is to setup a big meeting. You “get everyone in a room” for an hour or two to consider the situation and agree on a way forward. If you have first hand experience of doing this then you’ll know that it’s often a fools errand.
I stumbled upon a fantastic bit of advice by Sriram Krishnan. He ran consumer product teams and audience growth at Twitter and has lots of experience in this area. Below are some highlights:
1. Yes it’s hard but it’s a SKILL you can develop over time.
2. Don’t blame POLITICS. “Companies have limited resources and time and are always on fire.” That’s not politics, that’s reality. Rather ask: Why should they listen to me?
3. Stop focusing on or relying on the MEETING. Sriram explains that most of the work should be done before the meeting. Get this right and you might not even need the meeting.
4. WRITE! You make the task 10X harder if you meet without a written plan that attendees have seen and weighed in on before. Rough drafts are fine.