Picture yourself entering a corporate meeting, team meeting, or business meeting. There you are sitting in the room, while someone in the "expert" or "boss" chair speaks to you or at you. There you are, not aligned with that person's mission or vision. There you are, feeling apart from the process. There you are, lacking energy and the desire for being there. There you are, hearing what is going wrong and what you or your team or department needs to change or improve. How are you feeling?
Are you feeling a great connection to the meeting? Are you feeling enthusiastic about being in attendance at the meeting? Are you fully present at the meeting? Are you deeply tuned in and listening with your heart and your head? Are you inspired to co-create, participate, and contribute? Or, are you ready to fall asleep, or count the minutes of what you feel is wasted time?
My experience in my two plus decades of being in business and in coaching business clients around the world is that the system of meetings, clearly, must change. Most meetings don't include participant involvement and actually serve to tune people out rather than tune them in, and as a result, the intention of the meeting falls short of its purpose. In other words, they really can be a waste of precious company time.
The process of Meeting Alignment, that we've been teaching companies around the world, has allowed them to use a systematic process that engages people in meetings and creates a desire for them to contribute and fully participate in these business meetings.
The Meeting Alignment Process and the results it creates include:
A desire to co-create: The purpose of a meeting isn't to get across "your" agenda; it shifts to sharing your thoughts and hearing fully the thoughts and ideas of others to co-create the meeting purpose and actions.
Deep tuning in: Most meetings involve people talking and listening to themselves. The Meeting Alignment Process teaches people to fully listen with their hearts and to listen beyond the words to what is not said, to emotions, and to fully hear others.
The Meeting Alignment Process teaches techniques of being non-judgmental, so that people can fully hear and support each other and let new ideas IN vs. rule out and defend against why things won't work. It produces a safe environment in which people feel encouraged to participate.
Non-attachment: Many people think meetings are about a specific outcome occurring ? the meeting holder's outcome? that's a surefire way to alienate people and result in them NOT wanting to support you. The Meeting Alignment Process allows for each person to give up "their" outcome and allows the meeting and solutions to unfold for the good of the entire group.
What's wrong: Most meetings focus on problems, fixing problems, or informing people of change. The meeting needs to come from a place of asking what IS working and involve what IS the right type questions. These questions form the basis of creating a positive energy flow and opening up creativity. It's the basic principle of encouraging a sense of positivity rather than negativity.
Framework of questions: Questions in this process focus on what is working, why it works, what would be the perfect ideal vision, and what isn't quite right yet, and then, coming up with resources and inspired actions to create the outcome of the meeting.
Feel good! When people attend a meeting where EVERY idea is praised and contributions rewarded and people thanked and really appreciated for their contributions, this raises self-esteem, confidence, and morale. People want to participate in meetings that make them feel good, not only about the company they work for, but about themselves and their role in it.
This process is effective in all companies and will work with all size groups. It requires a shift in the employer and leaders' thinking, from managing and bossing and telling to coaching and co-creating and sharing. The effect is profound. People treated with value and respect, rise up to challenges. They are more excited to solve problems, participate in the mission and vision of the company, and create more productivity. They feel that the company's success is their success. It motivates them to greater achievement.
Companies following a systematic process of creating a Meeting Alignment Process, take morale out of the toilet bowl fast. Their employees are happier, their retention rates rise, and the corporate culture shifts to one of enthusiasm.
A beneficial win-win situation is created and everybody gets to bask in success.
Written by Terri Levine, MCC, PCC, MS, CCC-SLP, the CEO ofCoaching Instruction.com, popular Master Certified personal and business Coach, sought after Public Speaker, and Author of bestsellers, "Stop Managing, Start Coaching", "Work Yourself Happy", "Coaching for an Extraordinary Life" and "Create Your Ideal Body". She can be contacted via the web site http://www.terrilevine.com or by telephone: 215-699-4949.
bathroom cleaning service Northbrook ..Winning teams aren't created by accident. Rather, the team or... Read More
The world of work has changed. It used to be... Read More
Leaders are faced with unlocking the potential in the people... Read More
Group discussions are where much of the creative work of... Read More
Recently I decided to stretch my athletic abilities and add... Read More
Survival: The Name of the New Economic Game People rarely... Read More
Proactive High Performance Teamwork is made up of nine proactive... Read More
As I work with clients to strengthen their teams and... Read More
The very effective tool of keeping a journal can be... Read More
A tight knit team is a group of competent individuals... Read More
If asked to look at your work calendar for the... Read More
TEAM LEADERS WORKSHOPAlice asked Cheshire cat "which road should I... Read More
I declared a Communications Major two years into school, after... Read More
Picture yourself entering a corporate meeting, team meeting, or business... Read More
Irrespective of any given situation, "Team Work Works!" It is... Read More
Teams run most businesses and teams work best if each... Read More
No figure in history is like General Patton. He was... Read More
7 Key Dimensions of High Performance Teams We can always... Read More
One of the greatest challenges a coaching manager has is... Read More
A college football team has it. A corporation has it.... Read More
Young minds are quite easy to shape. International Terrorist recruiters... Read More
The ability to build effective teams is a must for... Read More
Have you seen the tee-shirt with the slogan, "Talk to... Read More
What's the Secret Ingredient That Turns Groups into Teams? Working... Read More
I'm often asked, "Why is my team always fighting fires... Read More
insured cleaning company Wilmette ..From the moment he putted with Bob Hope on the... Read More
Teams run most businesses and teams work best if each... Read More
If asked to look at your work calendar for the... Read More
Are workers telling the truth when they say they are... Read More
One of the best ways to ensure that your planning... Read More
TEAM LEADERS WORKSHOPAlice asked Cheshire cat "which road should I... Read More
"Teamwork is the ability to work together toward a common... Read More
One of the greatest challenges a coaching manager has is... Read More
One of the most memorable quotes that I heard from... Read More
Survival: The Name of the New Economic Game People rarely... Read More
Teams, teams, teams. They're all the rage these days. Whether... Read More
We live in very progressive times, one only has to... Read More
Irrespective of any given situation, "Team Work Works!" It is... Read More
One of the best lessons I have learned is the... Read More
Recently I decided to stretch my athletic abilities and add... Read More
What's the Secret Ingredient That Turns Groups into Teams? Working... Read More
7 Key Dimensions of High Performance Teams We can always... Read More
Last month's edition of Footprints and Monuments illustrated a parallel... Read More
The very effective tool of keeping a journal can be... Read More
Benefit 1 - You get to understand them betterAlmost everyone... Read More
Perhaps you're a small business owner wondering how you and... Read More
There's nothing that matches the power of teamwork to accomplish... Read More
It's a great sunny day so it's time to get... Read More
With over 25 years of research and experience, we have... Read More
Who keeps the wheels turning in your organisation? Who holds... Read More
Team Building |