Hi there,
My name is Shanae and I am an intuitive business mentor.
Today,
I'd like to talk to you about mindful meetings.
When we bring mindfulness into our meetings,
Regardless of the environment,
The culture or the industry of your workplace,
We start to tap into something that takes our meetings to the next level.
So for me personally,
I like to open a meeting with acknowledgements,
And I like to acknowledge the traditional custodians of the land that we are gathered upon,
And I also like to take a moment to acknowledge each and every person in the room.
We all know that a good meeting has an agenda,
A facilitator,
Someone to take the meeting minutes,
But what takes a meeting from a good meeting to a great meeting is mindfulness.
There are many ways that you can bring mindfulness into the meetings that you are a part of or facilitating,
And one of the best ways that I know to bring mindfulness into a meeting is to make sure that each and every person in attendance feels seen,
Heard,
Appreciated and acknowledged.
A very simple way to achieve this is eye contact,
But if you'd like to take your mindfulness a little bit further,
Then I encourage you to look at how you can incorporate acknowledging them verbally in some way,
Shape or form.
Perhaps you could open the meeting by taking a moment to acknowledge each and every person.
So you might have a little list in your notes with everybody's name,
And at some point somewhere throughout the meeting,
You make a note to acknowledge them in a positive way.
This will ensure that each person feels seen,
Heard,
Appreciated and valued.
Fostering a sense of connection also helps with mindful meetings.
There are many,
Many different ways to develop connection based upon the number of attendees,
The style of meeting and the topic at hand.
One of the easiest and most effective ways to foster a sense of connection is to open the meeting by allowing everybody to take three deep breaths together.
The deep breaths will develop a sense of group cohesion,
And for anybody who comes to the meeting off the back of a big conversation or a stressful situation,
Those three deep breaths are really going to support that person to arrive.
It will allow them to take a moment to reset themselves.
This practice is great for all kinds of meetings.
Government meetings,
Executive meetings,
Meetings with the whole team,
And so on and so forth.
In particularly high stress meetings,
A few deep breaths will set the tone for the best possible outcome.
And for lengthy meetings,
It can be helpful to take a moment to pause at the top of each hour and repeat those three deep breaths.
It also helps to ensure that the meeting attendees are all taking a moment to stand and move their bodies.
If you are in a boardroom or a space for the meeting,
Getting up,
Walking outside of that space,
Even if just for a moment,
Allowing everybody to get up to stretch ensures that there is energy moving through their physical bodies and also makes sure that they are able to stay alert and present for the duration of the meeting.
Factoring in those pauses allows for optimal human functioning.
It also supports us to make sure that we are stretching our bodies,
And in doing so,
It minimises the physical impact.
Of course,
Sitting for an hour long meeting is going to be different to a meeting that goes for three hours.
We also want to make sure that we are consuming enough water.
And whilst you could say that this is up to the individual and it is their responsibility,
Encouraging everyone to take a sip of water at different intervals will support with hydration,
Focus and energy levels throughout the length of your meeting.
Making the effort to remind everybody to drink water and having good quality water,
Filtered water on hand,
Means that everybody knows that their health is of importance to you.
And I don't know about you,
But I really appreciate knowing that others are looking out for my health and wellbeing.
To finish up,
I'd like to share with you some ideas and suggestions that you can use to bring more mindfulness into your meetings.
Some of these might feel really easy and effortless to implement,
And others might be a little bit of a stretch,
But I wanted to share this whole list with you so that you not only have a variety to choose from,
But you can also incorporate more than one mindfulness practice into your meetings.
Because let's face it,
Not everything I suggest will work for every organisation,
For every workplace,
Industry,
Organisational culture.
It just depends.
So,
Here's some ideas.
Roster different people to facilitate the meeting.
Sharing the role of creating the agenda.
Opening up a suggestion box for meeting openers for all attendees to contribute to.
Taking the time,
As I mentioned earlier,
To acknowledge all of those people who support the meeting,
Not just the facilitator or the active participants,
But also those who take the meeting notes and make things happen from a scheduling perspective.
Before lengthy or sensitive meetings,
Ask all attendees to take a moment to ground themselves before arriving in the meeting room.
Foster a space where all attendees feel safe and heard to speak up.
Encourage all participants to voice their opinions and their thoughts.
Ask each person to say something kind about the person to their left,
Perhaps a trait they admire or just a kind word.
Run some meetings outdoors or perhaps have some meetings where for a portion of the meeting everybody is standing.
Informalise the seating arrangements and mix things up a little.
Ask each person to offer a suggestion on something that is outside of the scope of their role.
Not only does this encourage divergent thinking,
But it also allows for people to get out of their comfort zones and know that they're safe to contribute.
Perhaps in your company newsletter or something that goes out to all employees,
You share a meditation of the week and allow that mindfulness to spill out from just the meeting space and make its way through the organisation.
Another thing you can try is if you run regular meetings with the same attendees week in,
Week out or some kind of regular frequency,
Is you could create a set of agreements that everybody contributes to.
The agreement could include things about punctuality,
Confidentiality,
Sharing openly and being honest,
Agreeing to treat one another with respect and taking responsibility for our actions.
Just a couple of ideas there.
And lastly,
I highly recommend the book Dare to Lead by Brené Brown.
And I recommend that everybody reads it.
C-suite,
Executives,
Management,
Non-management and open up a discussion for everybody to contribute to around the book.
I think you'll find it really positive.
Well,
That's about it from me.
It's been an absolute pleasure and privilege to talk to you about mindfulness today.
We've touched on acknowledgement,
Connection,
Wellbeing,
Agreements and we've finished up with a little list of ideas for you to test out what might work for you.
Once again,
My name is Shené and it has been an absolute pleasure to talk with you today.
Please take care of yourself and each other and may your meetings and your workplace see and experience the benefits of introducing more mindfulness.
