Tired of unproductive and lacklustre team meetings? We’ve all been there, stuck in meetings that seem to go nowhere and achieve nothing. In this blog post, we’ll help you break free from the cycle of unengaging meetings. We’ll explore the importance of team meetings, share six innovative ideas to invigorate your meetings, and discuss how you can incorporate Whole Brain® Thinking to amplify the effectiveness of your gatherings.
The Significance of Team Meetings
Before delving into ways to rejuvenate your team meetings, it’s crucial to understand why these gatherings hold such significance within an organisation. Team meetings serve multiple vital purposes:
1. Fostering Collaboration: Meetings provide a platform for employees to come together, share ideas, and collaborate. They help cement relationships among team members and leaders.
2. Cultural Reflection and Building: Meetings reflect your company culture, showcasing whether people feel psychologically safe. They also contribute to building a positive culture through open communication, strong listening, and collaboration.
3. Effective Communication: Productive meetings are not just about frequency or length but about the quality of interactions. A clear meeting agenda, open idea sharing, and effective post-meeting actions are essential for success.
4. Personal Interaction: Meetings are opportunities for close personal or emotional interaction, where individuals can better understand the progress and needs of their peers.
Remember that respecting your team’s time is crucial. Only convene meetings for meaningful, collaborative work that necessitates collective effort. Using methods such as time blocking in your calendar can help to protect your time so that meetings are only booked when essential collaboration is required.
Six Team Meeting Ideas to Increase Employee Engagement
Now, let’s explore six creative approaches to revitalise your team meetings and make them more engaging:
1. Infuse Quirky Meeting Activities: Step out of the traditional meeting room setup and engage your team with unconventional activities such as scavenger hunts, escape rooms, or trivia. For remote meetings, consider ice-breakers like “Two Truths and a Lie” to help team members get to know each other.
2. Conduct Team Building Workshops: Distinguish between meetings and workshops. Workshops focus on learning and problem-solving. Start with a clear agenda, engage in learning-oriented activities, provide examples, and encourage participants to drive the workshop for maximum collaboration.
3. Inject Surveys and Brain Teasers: Make meetings enjoyable and engaging with surveys and cerebral puzzles. Use online surveys to gauge initial impressions, and present brain teasers after discussions to test knowledge and recall.
4. Divide into Smaller Teams: Commence with a full group meeting and then divide into smaller teams for brainstorming or discussion. This approach encourages active participation and diverse thinking.
5. Delegate Meeting Leadership: Introduce fresh perspectives by inviting guest speakers or experts from within your team. Leverage cognitive diversity to boost collaboration and innovation.
6. Alter Meeting Venues: Change the meeting environment to stimulate creativity. For in-person teams, consider meeting in different settings, while virtual teams can adopt themed meetings or virtual backgrounds for a change of scenery.
Harnessing Whole Brain® Thinking for Better Team Engagement
Cognitive diversity is an essential aspect of successful team meetings. It involves recognising and incorporating the varied thinking preferences of your team members. To achieve this, consider applying the Whole Brain® Thinking framework and the Herrmann Brain Dominance Instrument (HBDI®) assessment.
The Whole Brain® Thinking model categorises thinking preferences into four quadrants: Analytical (Blue), Structural (Green), Relational (Red), and Experimental (Yellow). This framework helps individuals, teams, and organisations understand their thinking styles, process information, and collaborate effectively.
Here are some ways to incorporate Whole Brain® Thinking into your meetings:
1. Colour Code your Meetings: Analyse your team’s thinking preferences and introduce meetings that cater to specific thinking styles. For example, host a “Green” meeting for detailed planning or a “yellow” meeting to encourage big-picture thinking.
2. Encourage Reflective Discourse: Host meetings specifically for team members to reflect on recent experiences. This exercise promotes self-awareness and empathy, leveraging different thinking preferences to gain a broader perspective.
3. Ensure Equitable Participation: Ensure that all team members have the opportunity to contribute during meetings. Structure discussions based on thinking preferences and job roles, allowing diverse input.
Progressing Towards More Productive Meetings
In conclusion, team meetings are a fundamental part of a successful organisation. Experiment with various meeting ideas and leverage the power of Whole Brain® Thinking to infuse energy, excitement, and cognitive diversity into your meetings. By doing so, you’ll enhance team collaboration, curiosity, and overall productivity.
Need more strategies to make your meetings more productive? Download our Meetings That Actually Work Toolkit below to end meeting misery:
