I usually ask for feedback regularly during the meeting I facilitate. I use several techniques to do so depending if it’s a short feedback before a break or if we have more time at the end of the meeting.
One of those techniques is the ROTI, the Return On Time Invested.
I ask the participant to evaluate with their 5 fingers. If their time was well invested: 5 if their time was well invested, they have learned and contributed, 1 if it was not the place they should have been. I am asking them to answer the question all at the same time.
The name itself should led the participants to understand that I am asking them to value the investment of their time. I am not asking them to evaluate me, or to give me a grade. But it’s not necessarily working this way each time.
One thing I have tried after listening to Heiko Fischer is to tweak the question a little bit.
I am asking the participants to evaluate how the meeting was awesome on a scale
from 1 to 5?
I let the people being cynical about it…
And then ask a second question: On a scale from 1 to 5 how did you contribute to make this an awesome meeting?
The learning there is that there’s no magic, the meeting is a result of our commitment.
Obviously, it’s not needed in all environments, but sometimes it could be useful.
Header picture by Ryan McGuire.