How are we feeling today, are we excited??? (imagine the high pitching voice of someone trying desperately to get the whole group to move)The worst sentence to start with, right?
Herd behavior
You just lowered your royal behind comfortably in your chair with a cup of coffee, and you get that question, please.
I’m quite allergic to herd behavior. I once went to a seminar where you had to give each other a high five. A high-five! Awful!
The seminar lasted a whole weekend, and at the end of the weekend I was dancing just as hard as the others on the chairs. Two long days of over 12 hours, with only two breaks. And I was never bored. The energy was so high that I got carried away completely.
Are people asking for a break? Then you’ve let the energy drop – and you better give them a break 🙂
Keep the energy high for a number of reasons.
- As long as the energy is high, everyone stays focused. Nobody drifts off and starts doing their email.
- You get significantly more out of a meeting if your energy is high. Garbage in, garbage out! Energy in, energy out.
- High energy makes creativity flow and people get to work themselves.
- You can make the meeting happen on its own, only keeping an eye on the process, instead of peddling, dragging and pulling the participants so that they’ll answer a question.
- A meeting becomes much more equal through energy. Energy is contagious, there is more laughter and even better listening.
- Energy brings connection.
- When you do something with a high energy, there is a greater chance that you will do something with it afterwards – so the results of the meeting will improve.
Now… the only thing left is that part between your ears that says: “We Dutch are not so into energizers”. And “Just act normal, then you’re already crazy enough”.
A few tips to keep the energy high.
- Just give it a try. If you do what you always do, you get what you always got. If that’s enough for you, then keep at it. Do you feel there is more to it? Then work on the energy of the meeting with the help of the following tips and see what happens.
- This is an easy to implement tip. Stand up! Standing brings higher energy.
- Be clear about the purpose of the meeting, and continue to focus on achieving the goal. Don’t fall into the trap of distraction and sideline discussions. Those are always huge energy leaks.
- Prepare well. Deadly moments where energy leaks are moments when suddenly technology gives up, or everyone has to wait until you have looked up that one document. Also sideline discussions that don’t contribute to the goal – especially if it’s a discussion that is conducted by two people rather than the whole group. Are you digressing? Put the new item on the agenda for the next meeting and give everyone something to prepare. Do you want to have this discussion together now? Give everyone 2 minutes to put their own opinion on paper. If you then have everyone take turns sharing (in a short time), the attention stays, because you know that you can also have your say, and you don’t have to think about what you think about what the other person just said.
- Every now and then use an exercise that is purely for fun. Yes that is allowed! It doesn’t have to take long. A nice way of working is, for example, “The useless question” (in Dutch). Easy, funny or sometimes very substantive.
- Never let anyone talk for more than two minutes at a time (including yourself). If you have more to say yourself, alternate with a question. Just ask something like: who among you would like to have more energy at the end of the day? (if you talk about work/life balance). If you then raise your hand, everyone who thinks so also raises their hand. You can prepare these questions in advance.
- Continuously ask closed questions (to which they only have to answer yes or no). (see example above)
- When someone asks you a question, you can answer it, but for the energy ist’s good to not answer it but ask the person what he thinks himself. Mention that you are asking the rest of the group as well. Just keep it as a starting point: if I do something, it costs the participants energy, if everyone does something, it gives the participants energy. And thinking is an underrated activity 🙂
- Laughter is allowed! It doesn’t have to be very serious. Online meetings removed laughter a bit too much. One of the interviewed managers wore a mustache in his teams meeting with half of the strangers. Stupid joke maybe, but it was laughed at a lot, first by those who knew him, then by the newbies later when he suddenly removed his moustache without saying anything.
- Make space for coffee talk. For example, open the room a few minutes before time and say you’ll start 10 minutes earlier. A nice chat takes the pressure off the previous meeting and gives more focus for your meeting.
- Participants copy your energy. Therefore, make sure your own energy is high. That may feel excessive! Standing already helps, but also good preparation so you put your story sharply instead of with many “uh’s” and “Let me think about it, how do I say that well”…
- Use State Changes. A State Change simply means: a change in what you do or how you work. For example, have everyone stand up. Or write something down. Or answer a question. As long as something changes: from listening to actively doing something.
- Use breakout rooms. Working in small groups brings action and creativity and energy. For each topic on the agenda, first have the participants discuss in groups of three or four, and then ask each group in the larger group to share the most important outcome.
Once you’ve used all of these tips, you can always get people to give a high five 🙂
What do you do to keep the energy high in a meeting? Share it below in the comments and you will receive my infographic “what kind of meeting fits best”!