WE have all experienced wasteful and time-consuming meetings. Some of the unproductive meetings that I have attended were poorly planned. But one of the most unproductive meetings I have experienced was due to poor chairmanship—when the presiding officer could not control the participants due to sheer number. I have been in a few meetings
with too many people in attendance. Some say the larger the group, the more difficult the decision-making process becomes due to the great number of opinions shared or exchanged. I have attended meetings where participants enjoy hearing their own voice. Those meetings were wasteful in terms of executive time. I believe that attention levels diminish in large meetings, and participants are less engaged.
Amazon founder and CEO Jeff Bezos frowns upon large group eetings. He instituted a rule that every internal team meeting should be small enough to be fed with two pizzas. According to Bezos, if participants could not be fed with two pizzas, there are too many participants. With the two-pizza team meeting rule, diverse viewpoints are still obtained, participants are better engaged, and the time spent exchanging ideas becomes manageable.
Janet Choi, the chief creative officer of iDoneThis, said “while larger teams may be getting more things done altogether, it’s happening at a rate lower than the sum of individual efforts.” And that process is far from being cost-effective. She said that coordination costs, motivation costs and relational costs are to be seriously considered whenever companies prefer to have larger group meetings. In terms of coordination costs, delays are inevitable due to the increasing effort needed to keep everyone informed and coordinated. People in big group meetings also become less motivated and less productive as they, consciously or unconsciously, do something else during the meeting. Social loafers linger and proliferate. Social loafing refers to the phenomenon where a person exerts less effort to achieve a goal when he is part of a big group. Participants in large meetings are often disengaged to the point that they work on their laptops or tablets, and worse, conduct pocket meetings of their own. Such unconscious disengagement will eventually turn into disconnection and decreased motivation. In the context of the number of Facebook friends, the more friends we have, the weaker those relationships become.
I have been a member of the Multi Sectoral Governance Council (MSGC) of the Philippine Air Force (PAF) for the past two years. The MSGC helps the PAF to acquire some insights and assistance from sectors outside its organization in its quest to accomplish its PAF Flight Plan 2028 —a strategic road map to achieve a competent and credible Air Force in the country. Other members of the MSGC include Professor Confessor, Atty. Toledo, Commissioner de Vera, Senator Legarda, Senator Aquino, Asec Canda, and Mr. Goseco. Chaired by former Secretary of National Defense, Gilberto “Gibo” Teodoro Jr., previous meetings of the MSGC were very formal, long and attended by no less than 30 field grade officers of the PAF. A week ago, Chairman Gibo decided to go small, in terms of participants, venue and presentations. For me, it was the most productive MSGC meeting thus far. Ideas, comments and suggestions flowed much freely. The discussion stayed connected to the very concise PowerPoint presentation done by the PAF Strategic Management Office. Most important, the meeting was done in less than 90 minutes.
When Jesus began His discipleship, He didn’t invite and gather a large group of people to become fishers of men. Instead, he chose only 12 disciples to help Him in spreading the Gospel. While Jesus performed miracles in large gatherings, He noticeably preferred sharing parables to small groups. The apostle Paul used the same approach, as well, perhaps by necessity, as he traveled to various cities to spread Christianity. In the Bible, 2 Timothy 2:2 tells us, “And the things you have heard me say in the presence of many witnesses entrust to reliable people who will also be qualified to teach others.” I can only imagine how difficult it would be to identify reliable people in such a large group, much more qualify them. I think that whatever we share to a smaller group is understood much easier and absorbed much better. In the Bible, Mark 4:33-34 tells us, “With many similar parables Jesus spoke the word to them, as much as they could understand. He did not say anything to them without using a parable. But when He was alone with His own disciples, He explained everything.” While Jesus spoke to large gatherings, He also saw the importance to go into the little details with a smaller group—His 12 disciples.
Gibo ended the meeting with command guidance, popularly known as closing remarks in the civilian world, which recapitulated all the items highlighted by the members of the MSGC. Instead of 30 PAF officers, there were only five key PAF officers in that meeting. Chairman Gibo gave the PAF leadership what it needs to accomplish the tasks at hand. He gave the generals time for comprehension, reflection and implementation of the Flight Plan 2028. I am certain the PAF Commanding General, Lt. Gen. Galileo Kintanar Jr., will properly cascade down the chain of command what was discussed in that MSGC meeting.
Whether the meetings are done in the private or government sector, I think smaller is better. I agree with Jeff Bezos that two-pizza group meetings are more cost-effective. In smaller groups, we communicate better and open up channels for more meaningful conversation. More important, we strengthen emotional connections at work by way of more engaging discourses, which somehow lead to creative ideas, open suggestions, and deeper discoveries. So let’s follow the two-pizza rule. We can transform a business meeting from being a wasteful activity into a soulful exercise.