Before anything, what is well & good?
Meetings can be stressful and sometimes even draining.
Before jumping into sales numbers and business evaluation, try these tips to invite wellbeing and 'human-ness' into every meeting:
- Put on some music! You know how when you attend cool workshops & seminars, there is always music playing before the start of the session? Do you remember how it made you feel? Music can really shift our physical and mental state. It can lighten us up, relax us and even make us smile. Playing some music in the background for the first few minutes of a meeting and allowing everyone to loosen up. Maybe even ask the attendees to stand up and shake off any tension in their bodies.
- Personal check-in: instead of the general “how is everyone doing", with an expected answer of "great!", ask each person to turn to the person next to them (or for online purposes, split into groups) and take 5 minutes to share what has been going well in their life. Allow the beginning of a meeting to be a space for sharing & caring.
- Free-write: on normal day many employees attend up to 5 meeting, if not more. It is important to find grounding in between sessions, to maintain focus and presence. Give attendees a few reflection questions to free write about before the meeting starts. Some questions could be: “what is stressing you about this meeting” “what can you do to feel more relaxed in this moment?”, “what is a great achievement you would like to share with the team?”. Through self-reflection you give attendees a moment to breathe, introspect and reconnect to the present moment.
- Laughter: OK this one might sound a little daring, but why not! Laughter is contagious and can release stress. Put on some music and ask everyone to just laugh for 5 minutes, as loud as they can. It will feel (and look) awkward to start with, but give it 2 minutes and you will see everyone actually laughing. Ahhhh how I would like to start every meeting with a good laugh.
Start on a good note, life is too short to focus just on business numbers! By grounding, laughing, reflecting and reconnecting, you increase focus, productivity and joy!
