I once worked with a man who turned both hearing aids off weekly as we stepped into another boring meeting where managers rambled on and workers tried to stay awake. We all envied Gordon’s choice… and he pitied our faked attention. “At least I can think about other things,” he’d say.
Did you know that meetings where a person talks at workers is already doomed to engage less than 3 percent only of their retention. Beside… people hate to listen to leaders drone on at meetings… and so they leave with less incentive to carry out the orders bandied about. So what would it take to energize your weekly meeting in a way that builds better business on the other side of the door?
1. Encourage people to bring a snack… because that will build up their serotonin… a hormone in their brains that helps to open their thinking to new ideas.
2. Ask two footed questions to draw out diversity of ideas for better solutions. People want to hear far more than any leader’s two-bits on a topic and new ideas come from two-footed questions.
3. Show the flip side of problems as challenges to solve as a group
4. Start each meetings with good news … especially when it means naming some success from one of the attendees
5. Laugh with the experts who understand that laughter lifts the brain at work.
Ok, I’d come to your meeting if even a few of your items included my brain more…. You likely have better ideas than mine and maybe together we could crank up interest at some of those dead weekly meetings that make going for a root canal look preferable. What do you think?
Great tips Ellen - I especially like the "two footed" questioning concept. I've always ascribed to the good news should start meetings theory too - I call them "wins". Each of my field managers has to give me a "win of the week", every week. Positivity trumps negativity! Thanks.
Posted by: Starbucker | July 12, 2006 11:00 AM | Permalink to Comment