5 things to watch for to determine the success of your gatherings
“Could you put this event together? I think it’ll be great”. Lenny was used to the routine by now. About once a quarter, his boss would hear a podcast, read a helpful book, or see a particular guest speaker, drop the content on Lenny’s desk, and ask him to create a gathering, hoping it would spark some positive change for employees.
Lenny noticed that although the speaker series he started had initial public interest, attendance had waned. Worse, when asked what people remembered or recalled, few could say.
Lenny’s not alone. Millions of dollars are spent each year on bringing people together -- training, workshops, off-sites, speaker series, summits, and more -- yet very few have the staying power that helps them stick. Why?
Bringing people together necessitates an interest or care in something to gather around. It also requires the often harsh recognition that what we care about, others likely don’t. Or at least not yet. To make change truly stick is to take what’s important to us and help it become important to others. We don’t just want people to listen to our songs. We want them to sing it on their own and share it with others.
Rather than rotate through new content each quarter, here are five questions to ask yourself instead:
1. Do you know what your outcome is?
Each gathering is an opportunity to help people get from A to B, not just to share content. Get crystal clear on, “What do you want to be different by the end?”. What do you need from the people you’ve gathered? If you don’t know what you want employees to do with the information you’ve shared, your employees won’t know either.
2. Do your employees have a clear role?
Passive consumption of material (and too much of it) keeps your employees from having ownership over the change you’re seeking. Give them the opportunity (and choice) to participate in the gathering through some prompts, a question on the screen, the chance to challenge what they heard, or more.
3. What’s unique about this moment?
I define gathering as “bringing people together to match a message with the moment.” Too often, we focus on the message only. When that happens, there’s less reason for a synchronous gathering. “Can you just send me the slides?”. The answer is likely, “sure.” Take a look at how you invite people to your gathering. It’s common for invites to be all about the message and less about the moment. If you don’t need your attendees there or you view them as replaceable, they’ll be able to tell.
4. How are you building confidence and not just competence?
Sharing content is one thing. People’s motivation and ability to do something with it is another. Pull them in, and elevate the status (and confidence) of those you’ve gathered by showing them how much they already know about a given topic. Do this first. Adults want their experience used and noticed as opposed to being told what to do.
5. Do you measure the tool or its effect?
When you know your outcome, you’ll also know what to measure. When we only ask about the tool (ex: did you like the gathering?), people’s reactions will stay just that...reactions. Fun and smile sheets will give you a brief after-glow but likely not the long-term effects we long for like retention, engagement, or utility. Change is measured by behavior and output, not reaction.
When gatherings don’t stick, many organizations tend to do one of two things: either change the content/vendor/tool or focus on making it more fun and entertaining. These content-centric fixes mean extra effort for each change effort we introduce.
When we are part of a gathering that transforms us, it’s rarely because of the content alone. It’s how we connect to it. We fuel connection by creating the conditions for that to be possible.
Though it seems easier to start with gathering content, you’ll get much more bang for your buck by focusing on the conditions you create instead. Rather than starting with a slide deck, Lenny now begins with these five questions.
When we look at the gathering from a strategic lens, no matter what you are gathering people around or what change you’re introducing, it’ll have a better chance of sticking for the long term.
Lindsey Caplan is a screenwriter turned organizational psychologist who helps HR & business leaders create experiences that boost motivation, engagement, and performance