Reading Box

This element of the design star is about ensuring participation of the ”right” people in order to provide the largest possible knowledge base, decision- making power and quality within the specific area the process deals with

If the right people are not present to make a decision or qualify the input, there is a significant risk of the process being a wasted effort as the necessary ownership of further implementation or the required organisational support is not created.

If the purpose of the meeting is, for example, a working session during which some specific deliverables are to be produced in a short time, you should stage the meeting room in accordance with this. You could design the session as a stand-up meeting without the classic meeting table, you could hand out energy bars and water and play some up-tempo music when the participants arrive and make sure that all relevant material for the meeting is ready for use (markers, coloured cards, brown paper, adhesive, flipover paper etc.).

However, if the purpose of the meeting is to collect experience, evaluate and learn from, for example, a project, you could dim the sharp ceiling light and invite the participants into a room with comfortable furniture and soft music, thus signalling focus on reflection and learning.

Well, there is science to explain this. Dunbar et al, found, using data from various settings, that everyday conversations rarely exceed four people [1]. It’s something that’s pretty noticeable to be honest. Informal groups, meeting socially, just tend to split into groups of three or four people. This might be to do with various things. The physical spaces associated with a ‘circle’ of five and over lead to gaps of more than 2 metres between people that might be uncomfortable for friendly talk. It might be that most people don’t have the cognitive capacity to work with groups of more than four [2]. Either way, the idea that people ‘naturally’ work best in groups of no more than four, is supported by good evidence.