Want more fulfilling meetings? Try these three tips

How often have you been in a meeting, yet you’ve been anywhere but in the meeting?  

Maybe you’ve been thinking about all the work you must do that day, or the problem you can’t seem to get your head around, or even what you are going to have for dinner. 

Maybe you’re reflecting on how you aren’t as good as the other people in the meeting, or that you haven’t said anything yet and what must everyone be thinking, or you’re worried about the look on peoples’ faces when you made that comment ten minutes ago. Sound familiar?

If you get honest with yourself, what percentage of your time when meeting with other people are you in the meeting and what percentage are you elsewhere? If you’re not sure, think about spending a week reflecting after each meeting and get curious about what you find. 

For most of us the balance swings towards being elsewhere which leaves us struggling to feel deeply satisfied with the meeting or the outcomes achieved which has knock on implications about how we perceive ourselves and our capabilities. 

In fact, research shows to be at our best, called flow, we have to be in the here and now, deeply focused on the task at hand. If our mind is busy ruminating on the past, or worrying about the future, it’s impossible to be in flow. So why does this matter? 

Flow is our optimum state of performance and wellbeing which is often also referred to as being in the zone or on fire. McKinsey found top executives are over 500% more productive and motivated in flow whilst the University of Sydney found we are 430% more creative in flow. Not only this but we learn better, are more empathetic, on purpose and the list goes on.  

It’s not only our performance that’s impacted, but also our wellbeing. The people who report spending more time in flow feel happier, live longer, and have a greater sense of well-being. Building more flow in our lives helps us in many ways including having many more of those meetings when ideas are flowing, and we feel on fire! 

How can we build more flow in our meetings?

 

Take the pressure off

One of the interesting qualities of flow is that when we are in this state, we’re not focused on ourselves, in fact that part of our brain quietens down freeing us up to be deeply present to what’s happening. For those of us who tend to find ourselves innocently caught up in a constant stream of thoughts about ourselves we’re going to struggle to access flow.

Start by taking the focus well and truly off of yourself and placing it on other people. Get curious about what they’re saying and how they’re saying it. Listen to each and every word as if they are an alien from outer space and you are utterly mesmerised. 

Trust yourself

Rather than spending time thinking about what to say next whilst trying to be in the meeting, start to get comfortable with trusting that the more present you are in the meeting the easier the words and ideas will flow for you. It might seem counterintuitive, but this small switch can change your entire relationship with how you interact with others. 

 

Get neutral

We often go into meetings with a strong agenda about what we want the outcomes to be. With this tight grip we can struggle to see alternative outcomes that could be equally or more suited to our needs. As we remain neutral, we open up to becoming a lot more present and notice so much more potential that we might otherwise walk right past. 

 

How we show up to a meeting makes a huge difference to our experience of that meeting so take the time before any meeting to really think about how you can be present, get curious and tap into flow. 

If you would like to find out more about flow and how to access it consistently, we’d love to talk to you. We offer individual and group programs to step by step build individual and group flow in your life and organisation. Please reach out to us by emailing: amanda@wellineux.com