I have a secret to share. Just as there are movie critics, I’m a meeting critic. I don’t think there’s a meeting I’ve sat through in the past decade that I haven’t dissected like a 10^th grade biology student examining a frog.

It doesn’t matter if it’s a monthly scheduled meeting, an impromptu gathering among three people, or a general conference session with a thousand in attendance. Once there’s a group of human beings organizing themselves in some way, I put on my “process glasses” and start analyzing as many elements as I can.

These include everything from the climate created for the meeting, its structure, who’s talking (and who isn’t), the shape and design of chairs and tables, temperature, body language, tone and genre, sounds, the emotions at play, the coalitions and divergences among participants, the decision-making processes, power differentials, racial and gender dynamics, the backgrounds of virtual participants, and any results. When you start looking at even the most average meeting in these ways, you’ll see there’s always a lot to work with.

I make sure that criticism has a stopping point, as I’m most interested in what can be done to improve our gatherings. If anyone knows a producer with the rights, I’d love to create an episode of Extreme Makeover: Meeting Edition to show the before and after of redesigned gatherings.

“How should we meet?” That may be one of the most important questions asked for excellent communication. Some scholars and practitioners have spent their professional careers looking at meetings and what to do about them. There’s also lots of great resources available in this area. But today I want to focus on one easy way to see and feel the difference between old and new ways of meeting.  

Photo by Wren Meinberg on Unsplash

Bring Circle Processes into Your Meetings

Across continents, cultures, and languages, circle gatherings have played a large part in human history. From tribal circles to round tables, you don’t have to look far to discover this idea. The takeaway for all of us? When we don’t have a lot of time to think about gatherings, the one action we can take is to bring a dash of “The Circle Way” into any meeting structure and implementation.

In the following, I draw from and simplify Christina Baldwin and Ann Linnea’s open-source, pocket guide to The Circle Way: A Leader in Every Chair that provides key criteria and steps for introducing a circle process (or gathering, getting a group to contribute wisdom, and creating action toward a purpose) into any gathering. Here’s the most essential elements for practice that can be adapted in whole or part:  

1. “Set the intention” by writing a goal for the meeting, its scope, and what will be addressed (think of this as the group’s laser focus; you’ll look for evidence that the group is carrying the intent and any deviations from it every step of the way). You can test the intent by informally speaking with others and using stories and asking questions to chisel a core purpose for the gathering.
2. Once the intent is set, envision who should be invited and the diversity, clarity, and contributions sought. Use a written intention statement to invite others to the circle.
3. At your gathering, put chairs into a circle shape (if doing this virtually, I’d add that you can use Zoom, Teams, or another platform to approximate a circle shape on the screen via the “view” setting).
4. Create a center that focuses the group; put a symbolic representation of purpose in the middle (e.g. an organization’s goals or value statement, a photo or a logo, etc.). Just have a common object or image that places everyone’s attention on the intent.
5. Have a starting for the meeting that begins with silence, a chime, or anything that focuses attention. Then set the context by telling a story or sharing what led you to ask for a gathering—what was the idea or need. “Check in” by having each person introduce themselves, speak to the intention, and share what brings them there (A great question to get going = “How is everyone showing up today”).
6. Use some type of talking piece as an equalizer (a stick, gavel, rock, feather, koosh ball, etc.). Introduce the talking piece and the idea that those who have it will be listened to without interruption or commentary. Have a timeframe for the talking piece rounds. (My addition: if doing online, you could ask everyone to grab an object like a ball—or an imaginary one—and have fun throwing it to someone they name when being passed).
7. Establish group norms or revisable agreements for participation (e.g. keeping all confidential, listening with curiosity, practicing pauses, etc.).
8. Share the three practices of circle:
   • Listen with attention
   • Speak within intention, and
   • Contribute to the group’s well-being.
9. Share the three principles of circle:
   • Leadership rotates,
   • Responsibility will be shared, and
   • Everyone should focus on the whole, not just the parts.
10. Share the roles in circle (this is the most important, as one role will be new to most):
    • The host: who issues the invitation, defines the scope of the conversation, and participates as a peer leader,
    • The guardian: one of the most unique aspects of the circle way process; this person helps the group stay centered and intentional. They ring two bells to stop action when needed, ask the group to take a 15 second pause, and explain the reason for the pause (such as speaking to the center or focus on the topic, a need for respectful practices, etc.), and rings the bell to return to the original conversation.  Anyone can ask the guardian for a pause at any point.
    • The scribe: who takes notes on the decisions and actions.
11. Let the meeting ensue. Build continuity and structures for sustaining the circle through the practices, principles, and roles highlighted. Set the time and agenda, keep making the scope clear to those invited, and provide breaks or intermediate exit points.
12. For decisions to be made, use physical gestures for voting, such as a thumbs up or thumb down vote. Although this isn’t in guide, dot voting can also work. I’d add that the five fist method goes one step further. In this method, everyone uses their fingers from one to five (with five as most supportive), to show where they are on a voting issue. Anything less than five (or some other threshold the group agrees to) moves to further rounds of discussion.
13. Have a “check out” that answers questions such as “what are you taking from our time together?”
14. Offer a quote, poem, moment of silence, or another way to end. Baldwin and Linnea write that silence “can allow the acknowledgment of spiritual presence without dogma” (15).

If there’s one element I’d add to The Circle Way, it’d be a bit more play and joy. At least as written in the pocket guide, the process falls prey to performing a genre most efforts at dialogue and deliberation manifest: a seriousness that edges into somberness. I’ve written an entire guide to adding these spices to communication and leadership improvement. Yet even an icebreaker or two at the start could do the trick.

Every leader needs a wide toolbelt of meeting processes from which to pull and adapt. Gone should be the days when reverting to archaic and exclusionary structures like Robert’s Rules of Order overtake every gathering. Baldwin and Linnea find that circle is an embodied, consensual, and collective process for responsibility and action. I think you get even more: a grounded-in-history-yet-21^st-century way to do both ethical and effective organizing at once.