August 13, 2009

Virtually everything that happens in an organization can and should contribute to the organization’s  Engagement Culture. My 10 years’ focus on engaging employees has led me to realize that.

And, hey, meetings take an inordinate amount of our time, so why not use them as engagement tools?

Here’s why you want your meetings (staff, special project, church committee…whatever) to be engaging:

• People arrive more “up” for meetings they know from past experience will engage them.

• “Up” means: prepared, eager, active, receptive.

• When a meeting is engaging, attendees  put forth more energy, thought, and commitment for the meeting’s purpose.

• Engaging meetings continue beyond adjournment: after-thought, informal debriefing, added attention/effort to the meeting’s content and purpose.

Here are 5 tips to generate more engagement in your meetings.

• Begin the meeting with a thought-provoker relevant to one/all agenda items. This may be a question, a story, a group-share exercise.

• Over time develop the question as integral to all meetings. Build pattern of questions, questions, questions…from everyone, for everyone.

• Insure that meeting attendees engage lively discussion of every agenda item — especially if it’s someone’s presentation. Be prepared with questions and “what do you think about that?” prompts.

• Include an agenda item that encourages creative intelligence.

• Rotate responsibility for chairing the meetings. Giving members of your staff the opportunity to set the agenda, invite presenters, facilitate the meeting.

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Tags: Employee Engagement, meetings