Ready for meetings that matters?

It’s easier to keep meetings surface level. Keeping hush hush about the real problems that are happening. No one judges you, no one attacks you, no one dismisses you. You keep the peace when staying silent about the real issues. Avoiding potential outbursts and divisiveness that can ensue.

But deep down inside you feel disheartened, and even powerless to speak up. You know there has to be a better way to have these meetings. That these meetings are not at their full potential.

Ready to have your voice be heard in a meeting?

Meetings can feel, how should we say….wasteful. Oftentimes they are not structured well, a few loudmouths (like myself) can take up most of the talking time, and you may leave the meeting wondering, so what now?

The intentions of meetings are fantastic. Let's work together to get things done. But they seldom feel that way. Conversations jump from one topic to another, people are disengaged and at the end, it leaves people wondering, “Soooo, now what”? People feel unheard, frustrated, and demotivated for the next meeting.

But meetings are such a great opportunity if they are done right. They can deepen relationships, create clarity and leave people feeling motivated!

The satisfaction and sense of accomplishment a team gets when solving big problems is incredible. But solving those problems, like starting new initiatives, can come with misalignment, people staying quiet, and even disagreement that causes divisiveness within the team. Leaving you with a disengaged group of people and plenty of stress.

But if you know what causes these issues and when they pop up, you can work to prevent them from happening in the first place.

When people feel safe to open up in meetings they can share ideas, which fuels creativity. They can share mistakes they made, which allows the team to learn. They can even challenge one another without divisiveness and get stronger outcomes.

But when you ask a team to share, you will often hear crickets. Leaving you feeling frustrated and confused.

Imagine working in a space when you ask people to share and they speak up. People are open and fully engaged in your meeting. There is dynamic conversation and things are getting done.

But there are a variety of reasons why people don’t feel comfortable speaking up. Causing a lot of people to be disengaged and leaving you with silence.

This can leave you as a leader feeling frustrated and confused. Luckily there are things you can do to create a more open and engaging environment.