Six minutes in 80

A strategic team day and an agenda that's full of tasks, activities, discussions and outcomes. But not enough time for breaks?

Six minutes in 80 - that's a guide for an optimal break vs activity ratio.

Why are so many leaders pushing for overflowing agendas? Is it that breaks are seen as time wasting or time off from the 'real' work at hand?

Maybe leaders think they have to get their money's worth from their people, the venue they've hired and all the audio visual equipment that's whirring away in the room.

Or they're concerned they just won't get to where they need to get to in this 'one magical silver bullet make it all happen' day... if they don't push on, rush and make 'em keep working.

Let go of control and allow breaks, schedule breaks and be generous with break time. Productivity is boosted, fatigue is reduced, alertness is improved. You can achieve so much during a break.

This infographic, about the value of taking breaks is a great reminder of the 'why' you need to pause occasionally and it's right there, the 6 minutes in 80 ratio suggestion.

Even two minutes to stand and stretch is better than pushing on through.

Next meeting, workshop, team session : schedule breaks. You'll get more out of the day, the team, the outcomes. 

4 Ways to Tell if You're a High Engagement Leader

"So glad that's over... what a yawn-fest." No doubt you've enjoyed that type of meeting, workshop or conversation today?

If you were the leader or convenor, of course not. It was somebody else, yes?

High engagement leaders know that having a meeting or a conversation that's a 'yawn fest' is a no-go zone.

High engagement leaders focus on establishing and maintaining high levels of engagement with the people they work with: team members, colleagues, stakeholders... whoever they work with... high engagement is a high priority. 

(Sure, you can have a high engagement gathering on a Friday afternoon after work. Not many outcomes achieved, but gee, we had a g-r-e-a-t time!)

A high engagement leader aims to create and build engagement and connection with others... and then, once they've got that engagement, they are able to make stuff happen. In other words, get to outcomes. 

Engagement and outcomes. That's it. 

I think there are four ways to tell if you're a high engagement leader. 

In this model, you're aiming for the top right of the four quadrants - high on engagement, high on outcomes. 

If you're creating a hostage situation : you're getting great outcomes, but dragging people along.... pssst, you're not high engagement. 

If everyone's engaged, happy, singing sweet songs but you'll work on the outcomes next time... you're still not a truly effective leader. 

And if you're not getting the engagement and not getting the outcomes, cue the 'yawn fest'. 

Get the participants at your next workshop, meeting or conversation to answer this question:

Was this meeting/workshop/session a:

1. Hostage situation
2. Yawn fest
3. Party
4. High on engagement and outcomes?

Show them the model. Get them to tell you how well you went with engagement and outcomes.

You may well be somewhere between these, but whatever you do, keep shifting away from the hostage situation, the yawn fest and the pure party. The people you work with are counting on you. 

Mints, water, agenda. Where are the outcomes?

There's coffee on arrival, mints in little bowls, jugs of fresh water and an agenda on the tables - a gathering of the team for a strategy or team session. Perhaps it's a day or two, or you're fortunate enough to escape off-site in an effort to get fresh perspective and avoid workplace distractions.

The strategy or team session is a big investment of people, time, preparation, accommodation, travel, catering, audio visual support, time away from your role .... and on and on.

But simply getting people in the one venue and heading into the agenda doesn't get the best out of the group or that investment.

There are 7 problems I see with strategy and team sessions and they can all be avoided with pre-planning, creative input and the right resources. When I'm facilitating high-value strategy and team sessions for clients and providing input into agenda design before the event, there are key things I work to avoid. The difference in the feel and running of the session is certainly noticeable ... but the impact on outcomes achieved can be extreme.

The problems are in my new whitepaper - The 7 Problems with Strategy and Teams Sessions... and what to do about them.

Read it and act on it before you get the team together. 

Every meeting and conversation is a balancing act

Watching someone handle a meeting and conversation well, is just like the skill of a highwire walker. Balancing, woah over balance, back to centre, wait, steady, step forward, balance, wait...

The almost easy part is moving along the wire to achieve your outcomes. You can run across if you like. But you might lose people along the way. Or, everyone can be having a great time and participating, you'll achieve some outcomes but they won't be on topic or relevant.

So the balance is between achieving the meeting or session outcomes; involving and engaging the people who are there (in the room or dialling in remotely); and keeping things on topic. It's a balance and you need to let some slight overbalancing happen here and there, but get back to centre, steady and then keep stepping forward.

In a meeting, workshop, conversation today, notice how the balance is going. Is anyone really participating? Are you getting anywhere? Are you on topic? How are all three coming together to the applause of the crowd?

Focused talk... or off on a tangent

The quick pic image at the left for you this week is a good reminder: notice when conversations, meetings and discussions are focused and on-topic or wandering off on a tangent. Conversations do spark people’s thinking. It’s no wonder we think of other things or want to raise what we see are important or related topics when we're right in the middle of another.

So be aware of how you encourage divergent and convergent thinking when you’re leading or participating in a meeting or discussion. 

Divergent – open it up, open up the conversation and the discussion.
Convergent – narrow it down, close it up, wind it up.
 
If the talk goes off-topic, rather than rolling your eyes with ‘here they go again’, say that it sounds like it might be on another topic. Then you have a choice: proceed along the existing path or take the new path. I like to note what that topic, question or comment is. You can come back to it if you choose not to take that path right now. It can help to ask: 'Do we need to go along this path?' 'Does it tie in to our topic today?'  'Is this related?' 'Is this the time/place to talk about it?' Notice these are closed questions. If you do go along this new path, then it's helpful to open it up (divergent) with open questions like 'How does this....', "What parts of that...' or 'Where do these points...'
 
In true divergent and convergent thinking, divergent is about many possible solutions. Convergent is about one.

In business, I often see leaders, managers and meeting facilitators hit speedbumps when a topic is about to be wound up and converged ... and (often unknowingly) they ask another open question. Wham! It's open again. More divergent thinking and talking. Of course if it needs discussing and deciding you do that. But make sure the questions you ask suit either opening things up or closing them down.  

Are we all done on this topic now? Is there anything else to add to this before we move to the next point? Do we need any more time on this topic?
 
Notice how you as the leader, manager, consultant or facilitator contribute to diverging or converging.