Usually, when I hear people complain about meetings, it is about the regular, usual, ordinary ones. It’s almost always about meetings they have to attend.

There is nothing wrong with having ordinary meetings. On the contrary these are important collaborative moments for a team or a network.

We should listen to these complaints. Understand them. Act on them.

My suspicion is that bad habits are getting in the way: Meetings are run on autopilot, and are fuelled by bullet points.

If an ordinary meeting is run on autopilot, the purpose is likely to be fuzzy. If meetings could fly, then the purpose would be the fuel. If everyone involved knew why the meeting is held, the meeting could take off. Really. Collaboration would be able to blossom.

If bullet points are all you bring along, then content is queen or king. However, it is the other way around, people should be the collaboration queens and kings. They bring the content along in their luggage.  In so many meetings, the human factor tends to be overlooked. The collaborative engine runs smoothly when it is well maintained and is regularly oiled. Team spirit, an inclusive culture and human connections will make collaboration go smoothly.

Lately I did Nine Whys. My interview partner’s first response on why he joined this facilitation training was, “To improve my facilitation skills”. After having further explored why, why, why is this important, he concluded “I want to improve the human connections in my team for greater collaboration beyond all the brain work”.

This is exciting, isn’t it? My heart was jumping. I thought, “Wow, how beautiful.”

People are actors, contributors, in very meeting. That was my message when Myriam Hadness interviewed me for her podcast workshops work: 105: Facilitation Beyond the Toolbox. Listen to it here:

To have meetings that energise and collaboration that swings, you have to liberate collaboration from outdated habits and patterns that no longer serve you.

To begin, define your purpose. Make sure everyone understands and shares it.  Always. Again, and again. You want a worthy purpose for having the meeting. And else take the time to write a good email.

Then make sure, you involve everyone actively, engage all minds and hearts.

To do all this, strengthen the process muscle of everyone, of the whole team. Invite everyone to be mindful of how you meet and collaborate.

Wishing you a smooth take-off.

This blog post is part IV of a series on how to fall in love with your ordinary meetings:

Upcoming workshops

If you want to learn more, you can always join:

Bringing your Meetings & Workshops Online. Confident, Creative & Convincing!
A series of live online workshops on how to unleash the power of engagement and collaboration in the virtual world. In collaboration with cinfo5 weekly highly interactive workshops. August 30  – September 28, 2021 on Zoom!
>> info & registration here <<<