I've been there...
Before I learned how to facilitate a Decision Jam. The traditional Lab meeting method is all I knew. On the outside seem fine but the damage it does from within can tear teams apart which will crush your ability to meet your goals and do good science.
In a typical one hour lab meeting you present the problems where you typically talk about the effect of the problem but not the cause. Then your team talks for 20 minutes on ideas.
Your shy team member quietly nods and doodles in her notebook and your most junior member tries to speak up but is not taken seriously, he might as well be talking to a wall.
In the end you call for a follow-up meeting and everyone leaves exhausted with no real solution or plan of action and you feel like all the decision and solution making is left up to you.
However, the ramifications from that meeting go even deeper. Your junior member feels unappreciated and starts to wonder if the bare minimum is the best way to get by in your company and starts to abandon their excitement for their job.
Those that spoke up on your team are frustrated that they just poured out all these ideas and starts to question your leadership.
Individually they start to wonder if they need to start taking things into their own hands and start solving the problem their way.
Meanwhile, the quieter individuals are just glad it’s over and slips further into their own insecurities.
But the worse one is when your team takes on the impression that you’re just going to do what you want, and you called the meeting just to check the “I’m a team player” box.
