If the meeting is a nightmare... wake up!

When a colleague or friend of mine gives an important presentation, training session or meeting, the first question I always ask afterwards is:

How did you feel?

If the host of the event had a good time, it is very likely that the other participants also shared this momentum and feeling and they also evaluate it positively.

Sometimes (?) a discussion can lead to a very important result, but no one takes it home.

I'm not saying that feeling is above all else in a business environment, but we can be sure that it affects a lot of events and performance. There is something called energy and there is also something called flow.

If a person participates in a boring, monotonous, tense and soulless event, and is completely passive (or stressed), he will carry this dullness, dullness and depression into his next tasks and activities, not to mention if these discussions they are regular. It is the enemy of efficiency and the net of waste if the majority of employees spend almost their entire week at such a regular and exhausting mass event. Then you won't have a chance to delve into something, be enthusiastic, or focus because of the many content switches, and you won't be able to support other people's goals either, as you will tensely devote all your remaining energy and sense of self to your own perceived or real interests.

Then how?

Be present

And involve the others too! Do you know the word icebreaker? This is not just some modern facilitative mania, but it has also become almost monotonous. It is a psychological factor that the actors arrive at the meeting only when they feel the problem is their own, if they have spoken and can bring something of their own ideas, stories, and interests to the whole thing. Without it, there will only be dull listeners who record their job duties in the timelog system.

And if yours (the subject's) is involved, pay attention, keep it up! Your full presence, active attention, and openness are necessary in order to perceive the vibrations and consciousness of all those present and to focus on the problem.

I'm not going to tell you what kind of presentation or interactive activity you can use to be diverse, interesting, enjoyable or provocative. There is a large literature on the subject, but my own experience is that your own creativity and style are the most authentic. Don't be boring, use prezi if it adds to what you have to say, and if your production can't be read on the slide (then it's cheaper to send an email!) Sometimes it's enough just to jump up and draw two colored arrows... if that gives you more and drag the interest and the solution, and you can also rotate the facilitation so that we don't have an upset stomach from anyone's voice or head, because he is in charge of everything throughout the week...

And yes. It is necessary to convene a meeting with such a number of people that the participants can be kept active and not a single man-minute goes to waste.

I once read a legend about Steve Jobs, for which I can't find the reference anywhere - but that doesn't stop me from writing a post - if anyone can provide a reference, please send it. Once, during a morning meeting, he suddenly pointed to a lady sitting in the second row and asked why she was here, who cares what she did to solve the problem...since the poor man couldn't answer in his confusion, the famous/infamous boss's public decision was to fire the lady's supervisor that day (all without revealing who it was and who sent him there). Um. Well, it's pretty bloody... I hope we get the message at least 🙂

Of course, the number of people depends on the purpose of the meeting, but you need to know the possibilities. When we went to school, we had face-to-face lessons (history, literature, geography, etc.). These were the flat watches. Flatters vs geeks. No matter how hard they tried to motivate us, the poor teacher only got one sentence per person.

The lessons where we developed skills (language, maths), where we trained our brains and creativity were all organized in small groups. Max 15 people (but as a scrum believer I recommend 10), on these occasions the atmosphere was more relaxed, the dialogues were lively, exercises and creative solutions were created. If you expect this from your team, create the conditions for it!

Of course, the transfer of information or thoughts also makes sense. In such cases, it is possible to call together many people, but let's calculate the cost of this and always be aware of why personal presence is necessary, why it is a safer method than an email or a video. For example, you want to push a dance performance instead of empty agenda items, or your personality and rhetoric will have such an inspiring and provocative effect on the others that it will leave a mark on them...perhaps the organization has reached such a significant point that it is important to present your person in front of the crowd. Just in case, count on the online factor that half of the people, as soon as they see a ppt, get up out of reflex and turn on their microwave 🙂

And speaking of school: I do not agree with the above-mentioned star managers and most of my acquaintances in senior management positions on maximizing the length of meetings at half an hour. Of course, this could also be because, at the moment, my main mission is not quick decision-making and quantitative problem solving, but rather I am trying to support understanding, finding solutions, and operational planning. A half-hour discussion can be effective, assuming that both the question and the proposed solutions are prepared and known or can be quickly shared. Our brain and psyche, on the other hand, need 45 minutes to arrive at a topic, delve deeper, and tune in to our conversation partner. We also need introduction, choice of direction, outline, thinking, conclusion, action plan and derivation! That's why lessons, private lessons, support conversations, etc., are a minimum of 45 minutes all over the world... if we stay longer, we will lose focus, start repeating ourselves, going around in circles, getting confused, getting tired. 2*45 minutes may be ideal for university students and people with a similar workload. An hour and a half is suitable for developing deeper or more topics, for workshops, and for the production of larger material. Anyone who doesn't take a break every hour and a half is a liar or likes to torture others 🙂

Status meetings. Forget it! Soul, energy and time killer habit. It's a very common habit, I know. But think about who needs it. The one to whom they report has a responsibility-. He wants to see and control what is happening in his area. But with the status meeting, you actually push the responsibility and pressure onto the others and the total cost is much higher than if you read the reports and ask about them. He has to be creative, accessible and aware to see what is happening. The fact that 10-20-30-40+ people listen to each other every week, "I progressed with my task" is only self-deception and does not feed team cohesion. No one will admit to so many strangers that they're stuck. No one cares what others are suffering...and this does not make the team product aware, because they are not involved and the essence, the connection and progress are not highlighted. If an excel or a board is the guiding thread of your status, think about why there is a meeting and the participation of all stakeholders. There are good, modern and proven methods, daily stand up, creating a joint demo or retro...but it's all teamwork, self-reflection, awareness and not status. This creates more and value, not only for the manager. And you go, go to Gemba, be, think with your team or hire talented managers and trust them, ask them well and then you will know where they stand.

Last but not least, the quality of the meeting is by no means only the responsibility of the facilitator or leader. Always make sure who came and why, for whom this meeting was valuable. Give the person who initiated the conversation space to explain their question or problem, don't steal the show. If the host's energy and enthusiasm wanes, give him energy back, be funny, kind and supportive. Have you ever been to a meeting where only 2 or 3 people got involved? Did you feel the enthusiasm, openness, and the faces and body language of those who were not speaking? Do you remember meetings where the topic was interesting, or where you came out with an "aha"/success experience, or where you were part of a liberated creative collective thinking? Do you remember how your day went on after that? I wish you such a nice day, and please make everyone's day better if you wander into a meeting 🙂