Leadership Coaches - 7 Tips If Your Meetings Are Tanking

By Jodi Wiff

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Wish you could improve the engagement level on your team? Whether you are the team leader or a member on a team engagement levels in teams vary from productive, high energy exchanges to quiet, stressed, uninspired energy sapping moments. But what makes the difference, and just why do some meetings flow with energy and ideas and others you want to run away from, or not make time for?

Here are 7 ideas if your meetings are tanking:

As a leader or a participant do you...

1. Bring energy to the meeting - come with the attitude of bringing energy - not just taking it from others.
2. Use peoples time wisely - if you find yourself reviewing facts and reading to them - stop. If you're reviewing results; tell the story behind the results - use the time to reinforce the focus. If you have a tendency to drone on...edit it down - to the three key facts that can; reinforce, appreciation, encourage
3. Reflect on the discussion - is the leader speaking less than 35% of the time? If not - engage the others. Let them update/report back - take accountability for a section of the meeting. Next start asking people what they think, how they would approach, what felt wrong or right, what caused the stall... Be curious, but be careful not to come off as a questioning detective.
4. Set the stage - list on the flip chart the items/areas to review - but ask - what is most important to the group - and start with that.
5. Past-present-future - what is the percentage breakdown for your meeting are you spending 50% on the past...you may want to adjust, learn from the past, but you want to move on to the present but also a bit on the future.
6. If there is a 800 pound gorilla in the room - address it.
7. If you have a format/pattern that you use - and your meetings are low energy change it up and try something completely different.