When I ask you to think about the beginning of a meeting, what comes to mind? Probably the opposite of the serene, joyful (if slightly cheesy!) sunrise pictured above. Whether virtually or in person, people often turn up to meetings frazzled and distracted, rushing from the last thing or thinking about the next one. So far so normal, but in
the course of my business coaching certification at Meyler Campbell, I learned a new - and altogether better - way to kick things off which has the potential to transform any meeting...
My brilliant Meyler Campbell tutor, Dr. Liz Gooster, would often start our syndicate tutorials with something called Positive Beginnings.
Very simply, before you do anything else, you go around the meeting participants and ask each person to briefly share one positive thing they've experienced over the past week. Just one. It can be big or small, personal or professional. You can give people thirty seconds or a minute.
No long stories, interruptions, questions or discussions - once someone's shared their one positive thing, you move on to the next person. And that's it. After that, you crack out the agenda and get on with the rest of the meeting.
Sounds weirdly simple doesn't it? Possibly a bit too basic or even a tad fluffy or unprofessional when there's real work to be done? And yet it's practiced by some very well known and succesful organisations and teams dealing with some pretty complex issues. And those teams and organisations report much improved
input and outputs from meetings which start in this way. Here are a few reasons why:
1. In a world where we're all so scattered and distracted by one thing or another, Positive Beginnings draw everyone in the meeting together at the start
2. Our professional relationships can become unhelpfully transactional (even more so with remote working) and Positive Beginnings help us to see and interact with the other people in the meeting as human beings which makes for not only more pleasant but more productive meetings
3. Positive Beginnings start the meeting in a way which encourages its participants to pay more attention to each other. Teams report that even the most usually prickly and obstructive people tend to be far more constructive and collaborative in meetings which start like this
4. Finally, and most powerfully, Positive Beginnings encourage people to have a more positive mindset throughout the meeting. This is especially helpful when so many meetings are about solving problems or addressing tricky issues
You don't have to use positive beginnings every time and, not only does using them take up very little time, but once they get over the initial shock of something new and get the hang of it, people (even the most socially awkward English people!) tend to find the approach refreshing and to experience and value
the positive impact straight away.
This Forbes article explores a bit more about how and why Positive Beginnings can be so effective but why not
try using Positive Beginnings in the next meeting you run and see what happens? I'd love to hear how it goes.
