Having a meeting? Think, have you done your work?

Today, in my commute, I listened to an interesting podcast on Freakonomics Radio. It was a panel discussion with people who had worked with Daniel Kahneman at some point in their careers. We all know how the Nobel Laureate contributed to the field of psychology and inspired a new branch of behavioral economics.

In his landmark book - Thinking, Fast, and Slow, he explained the concept of the dual thinking mechanism and how our biases play a significant role in decision-making.  

Tomorrow, I have planned a review meeting with a few business owners. Such synchronous communication helps us make quick decisions, brainstorm, and resolve immediate issues. Fast-thinking, as per Kahneman, involves quick, automatic reactions and decisions based on intuition and existing mental models. We spend much time in such meetings, chats, and phone calls.      

Before the meeting, I had shared a presentation template with all of them. The template was for structuring their thinking and helping them focus on the gap between target and achievements. Often, focused work is possible only in asynchronous mode. Slow thinking involves deliberate, conscious thought processes that consider multiple perspectives, analyze data, and plan for the future.

Synchronous and asynchronous thinking have their place in the decision-making process. The problem is to work on an optimal blend. I suggest the following:

• Insist that every member of the team does focus work like planning, data collection & and analysis, and preparing a draft before doing any synchronous meeting.    

• Do not have any meeting without an agenda and a clear set of objectives. Use synchronous communication to brainstorm, resolve immediate concerns, and build teamwork.  

Subodh