I was watching a recording of the highly energetic and insightful anthropologist Jitske Kramer, delivering her keynote at the Nordic Business Forum 2022 and was stuck by one of her insights:
There are two kinds of meetings that we can hold as leaders:
- Bullet Point Meetings and/or
- Campfire conversations
Bullet Point Meetings:
These meetings are all about taking actions and tactical thinking. These meetings are about listing down what needs to be done and checking them once done.
This is all about day-to-day activities that needs to be done to keep the lights on for our businesses.
These meetings are all about behaviours, norms and rituals that we follow when we come together.
In these meetings, you optimise for execution.
Campfire Conversations:
These are conversations we have with our colleagues about more important and crucial questions like – What brings us together? Why do we do what we are doing? Why is this important?
Are we happy with who we have become and are we with the people that we want to be with? If not, why not and how to attract those people? What do we believe in as a group? Why?
These are about questioning if we need to come together and if yes, why?
In these meetings, you optimise for relationships and bonds.
Conclusion:
We need to do both kinds of meetings to really flourish.
We start with the campfire conversation to decide on where we want to go towards, why and how we want to show up while on this journey.
Once we have decided this, we need to set in place a cadence, the norms, the behaviours and the rituals (along with the right systems and structures) in place so that we are able to do what we set out to do.
Those who are able to balance the campfire conversations with the bullet point meetings are the one’s that go on to deliver high performance while having a great time together.
PS: You can watch her entire keynote here (32 mins long and fully worth the time).
