Make Your Team Meetings More Lively

 

Make Your Team Meetings More Lively

Think about your last team meeting. Could you predict who was going to speak up and what they were going to say? You’re unlikely to come up with new ideas or have creative breakthroughs if your meetings are “the same old same old.” So stir things up. First, ground yourselves in a collective purpose. Before changing team dynamics or meeting process, reiterate what the team is trying to achieve and explain why it’s important to shift the way you’re interacting to meet those goals. You might say, “If we want to double our numbers this year, the thinking that leads us to our current figures is unlikely to transform our results. Let’s change the way we’re interacting and brainstorming ideas.” Then, don’t be afraid to highlight dynamics in the moment, such as who tends to open the conversation or how often the group is developing a consensus. For example, you might say, “In the last 30 minutes, whenever someone from the production group has spoken, they’ve been interrupted by an engineer" or “After two hours in this session, 17 of 43 people have not yet spoken.” By illuminating the patterns at play, you help the group check assumptions and break out of their ruts. Ask team members to share their thoughts about why certain team dynamics are at play, and what you all can do to disrupt them. Then experiment with those actions to see what works to breathe some new life into your meetings.

This tip is adapted from “How to Foster Healthy Disagreement in Your Meetings,” by Sabina Nawaz