Build engagement slowly

Starting with a bang in a meeting may seem like the way to get people’s attention - but the reverse can also be true. As we join the next meeting in our diary, we bring with us a hangover from the previous one.

The previous meeting could have been overwhelming with too much information, or frustrating in how decisions weren’t made. It could have been time wasting or unclear or .... highly entertaining, interactive and uplifting!

Every meeting leaves us with a kind of hangover that we need to unload or process. The guide then for facilitating or leading better meetings is to build engagement s-l-o-w-l-y. Slow and steady style.

That means:

> Not putting people on the spot at the start, or ever

> Not making them look foolish, and

> Not making them wrong.

It’s easy to put people off or get them offside in meetings - online or otherwise Ramp or build engagement with participants slowly, steadily ... even if you’re in a hurry to make things happen. There is plenty going on for people. Lead meeting speed safely.

What kind of uncertainty

If these are “uncertain times” for us, think about what kind of uncertainty is it for you. Uncertainty couldn’t be a blanket cover, one type or one size fits all ... could it?

It’s worth exploring uncertainty further so we aren’t just generalizing about it.

There is:

Uncertainty that is confusion.

Uncertainty that is lack of knowledge.

Uncertainty that is indecision.

Uncertainty that is doubt.

Uncertainty from not knowing or being unsure.

Uncertainty that is variability.

Or the ‘subject to change’ type of uncertainty.

Much gets gathered under the one label of uncertainty ...but getting greater fidelity could help. In meetings, conversations, presentations and packs of information, go a way further than listing the U of VUCA as a generic brand of uncertainty.

Go further to get more certain about uncertainty! 🤩 You’ll be known for greater clarity and help guide a team through doing better work.

Clever in constraint

Lockdowns, isolation and restrictions: they’ve been challenging and frustrating. But they’ve also been constraints. And we can make constraints work in our favour.

Many people have shown creativity and ingenuity as they ‘work around’ a constraint looking for a solution. These could be solutions for a problem or solutions for entertainment, distraction and release of emotion.

With limited resources, restricted time or constrained choices, our brain goes to work to find something for the situation. It’s evident from the funnies, tips, solutions and hacks people have shared over recent months.

There is such resourcefulness in us ... when we let it out.

If you think you’re not clever or creative enough ... try applying some constraints. When we have wide or seemingly unlimited choices, supplies or resources, ingenuity can seem harder to tap into.

To find more clever, put a limit or constraint on the situation. It will gently ply the ingenuity out of us as we seek a way to work within the boundaries.

Minds in a fog

If you had to get a lot of information across to someone... how would you do it? If you had to explain a complex thing or a detailed project or the purpose of something, how would you do that?

We usually start with words, the verbals. Now that many more of us are in online training, meetings and workshops more frequently, it’s becoming clear we need to use tools that go beyond the ‘blah blah’ of talk.

Many of us are experiencing a kind of brain fog. It’s not a normal communication situation. Many people have already done my 90-minute online workshop, where I show you plenty of options and ideas for bringing more visuals to help convey information.

It’s available as a tailored session with your work team too. ‘How to use visuals in workshops and meetings’ doesn’t require you to be an artist, but it does get you doing something a little new.

The impact, engagement and influence you’ll gain will be worth it.

Why the rush to simplicity

When things are messy, challenging or difficult, we can be impatient to make it all simple so we can tick it off and move on. It happens in meetings and workshops when the leader - meaning well, doing their best - takes what someone has said and simplifies it down to one big simple word.

The leader responds, ‘oh right, so what you’re talking about is < simple, big category word like productivity, strategy, collaboration>‘.

’No’, the person may say, that’s not quite what they were saying. Their contribution or explanation gets distilled so far ... pushed ahead to a single word, for the sake of simplicity.

But it could be too simple.

It’s like that exercise some people run in workshops: ‘What’s ONE WORD to describe today’s workshop/conference/meeting?’

Why the limit to one? One word may be easy, quick and controlling for you to put on people but it’s less effective for engagement, sensemaking and meaning making.

We may distill so far that the deeper (and intended) meaning vanishes, evaporates and is lost. Beware that by stripping things away to make it easier for you, may make contributions so vanilla... there’s no vanilla left.