I am on five different boards of directors/trustees and involved in other organizations, in ADDITION to my own consulting work. Yes, I'm busy and in many conversations. One group recently introduced me to the Chatham House Rule and I thought I'd share it here. According to Wikipedia:
Under the Chatham House Rule, anyone who comes to a meeting is free to use information from the discussion, but is not allowed to reveal who made any comment. It is designed to increase openness of discussion. The rule is a system for holding debates and discussion panels on controversial topics, named after the headquarters of the UK Royal Institute of International Affairs, based in Chatham House, London, where the rule originated in June 1927.
I like this idea of having an open discussion, exchanging information, and allowing people to use what they heard without revealing who said it. This allows for a freer flow of information in and outside of the meeting. Given some of the conversations we all need to be having in our society, the Chatham House Rule could be very useful.
Have you used this rule? How did you get people comfortable with it? What benefits have you seen? Please leave a comment and let me (and others) know. Thanks.
1 comment:
I really like this rule and would love to hear how it's been used.
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