During a discussion with a trusted colleague, the topic turned to the relative rarity of meeting with people who have truly done their homework prior to holding a discussion.
How many times have you opened that Zoom screen with someone who is clearly “winging it,” and starting with the sketchiest of intentions? We used to call this the “call a meeting to plan a meeting syndrome”— and it’s a time and productivity killer.
Time is our most valuable commodity.
When we ask someone to share it with us, we need to make sure we are showing up with fresh ideas backed by actual research — not a few hunches and a hope that someone will come up with the connections.
What Does Good Research Look Like?
1. Research starts with a clear intent.
“If you don’t know where you’re going, any road will take you there.” ~George Harrison
Sometimes the musicians know how to say it best. Whether in life or in a meeting, if you don’t know where you’re going, then you’ll end up wherever the strongest personality in the room wants to go. Since that may not be the outcome you want, you need to do some thinking beforehand to set a few goals and intentions. Ask yourself some questions:
- In one sentence, what is the goal of the meeting?
- What is the best possible outcome of the discussion? Is the scope of responsibility of the people I asked on track with the meeting’s highest purpose?
- Have the right people been invited? Do they have the ability to implement if the goals of the meeting are reached?
- Who needs to contribute to this besides the principals who will be present?
- Can I get this outcome without a meeting?
- Is there a need for a pre-read prior to this discussion?
2. Research is done best with an open mind and a clean sheet of paper.
Many have found that the best way to do this is to step away from your normal environment and to go somewhere that stimulates some new thought – this could be the local coffee shop, a bench in the mall or under a tree in a park.
Pull out a pencil and start writing and sketching. Mull on these questions:
- What is the goal you’re trying to reach?
- What is the simplest path to getting there from here?
- What has happened prior to this point in time?
- Who or what is the point of greatest resistance to your hoped for outcome?
- How can I work most effectively on that?
- Who knows about this stuff from an unrelated field?
- Who is the most out of the box person I can talk this over with?
3. Get out of Google
Traditional Google searches can draw us to a pretty shallow pool of well worn digital space. Unless you’ve taken steps to prevent it, Google’s algorithms use your browsing history to eliminate results from your search before you even have a chance to see them. Marketing teams have SEO’d the keywords you are likely to use to assure their content and products are high up in the results. The irony here, is that while we have this enormous pool of information, the world is conspiring to serve up only small portions of it. There is a lot you can do to avoid these pitfalls digitally, but the simplest way is simply to go analog.
- Go to a library – yes really.
- Go to the reference desk and ask them for what you are looking for. Modern librarians are very (very) skilled clinicians – and they have databases and search tools that you cannot afford. I can’t recall the last time I didn’t learn something amazing in this process.
- Go to the book stack in this genre and grab an armful. Look at the indexes, browse the right chapters and study the figures in all of them. You will quickly come to know the basics of common and uncommon viewpoints.
- Ask someone totally unrelated to your work about their view.
- Talk to the cab driver – yes, the cab driver. Sometimes they have a view that is gleaned from listening to 100’s of smart people talk on their cell phones – and oh by the way – stop talking on your cell phone in cabs.
- Talk to the guys on the loading dock. Grab some donuts and coffee and walk in through the back door. You will learn a lot.
- Go the local college campus
- Check out the campus bookstore. What are they reading and teaching about the subject matter you’re interested in? Who has the latest publications in the faculty sections for your area of interest?
- Walk around the academic department and find a professor who is in her office. I have never been turned down and rarely disappointed with these discussions.
You get the idea.
4. Understand that research moves in spirals.
If you do the above, I guarantee you’ll revise your topic sentence from step one, which will then open new lines of thought in step two, thus prompting more research in step three. Somewhere in this process you will hit the top of the learning curve for effort and payback. Only then is it time to call a meeting.
When you finally do have the 1:1 or lead that meeting, you are going to blow them away. Preparation is an uncommon activity these days – and a huge opportunity.
Make a decision to stand out. Do the homework before you hit the keyboard.
What are your best research techniques? I welcome your thoughts. Please drop me an email or put a call on our calendars using this link.
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