Leaders Create Meetings Which Motivate

Meetings !

Meetings are an essential part of our working lives.

Whether it’s three people or thirty… in person or virtual…short or … painfully running over time, we must be part of meetings.

When the manager calls the meeting, the focus is more likely to be on timelines, budgets, procedures, and systems.

But the leader conducts a very different meeting.

It may be surprising, but people coming to the meeting called by leader, usually look forward to coming to the meeting.

So what’s different?

Leadership is a relationship, and that relationship certainly is evident at the start of the meeting and all the way through.

Most likely the leader will arrive on time. He or she will then be genuinely interested in the team members who have come to the meeting.

After all, his or her leadership will bring the results required for the overall team success.

One example of starting the meeting very successfully, is to have every person in the room relate a positive experience that they have had in the last week. Each person has one minute, and there is no “I’ll pass“.

Managers might regard this as frivolous, a waste of time, too ‘touchy-feely’.

Quite the opposite.

When a leader – as they do – touches the heart, that increases engagement, which is directly in line with improving performance.

When a leader conducts a meeting, the views and the contribution of every person in the room is important.

And each person knows that - because leaders listen.

The leader will be living their values, reminding the team of the vision they all share; the leader will be encouraging the team to ‘find a better way’, they will be empowering individual team members and of course, recognizing positive actions and behaviors as they ‘encourage the heart’.

And of course, everyone wants to come to the next meeting – and they’ll be on time.

We’ve all heard the pre-flight safety briefing: “Take the oxygen mask and place it over your nose.”

You can’t help anyone unless you first look after yourself.

Then you can share your oxygen mask when you first take care of the most important person.

The same applies to leaders.

Even as a leader, you may take on stress during the day …

Even though the team are all working extremely well to achieve the end result…

Stress can still manifest and this is where emotional intelligence plays a vital role: the leader … or whoever is feeling this … should recognize the emotion or emotions in the moment and manage those emotions, that stress, effectively. The first part of managing emotions… and stress … is awareness. Then deciding to not allow that negative energy to be carried, certainly not home at the end of the day.

Stress is often manifested when we recognize that the values we have identified are not being lived.

And that should be addressed as we become stressed when our values are compromised.

We also become stressed when there is uncertainty and unclear or an absence of communication.

Develop an awareness of the cause of stress in your life and work on…develop… strategies so this doesn’t occur.

Self-care begins - with us - all recognizing the importance of ‘me time’. Of course, time spent with the team, with loved ones, with our partner and children is imporant. But ME time is paramount. Time to wind-down, disconnect, reflect for ourselves, is essential.

Leaders should identify what it is for them which creates genuine ‘me time’ - and connect with that time as frequently as they need to.Self-care is not selfish.

Quite the opposite.

Caring for yourself allows you then to care for the other important people in your life in the best way possible.

As a leader, remember you are the most important person in your life and self-care must be a priority.

Only then can you share the oxygen mask.

Leaders Have Impact with Stories

As children, we are told or read stories from a very early age.

Parents tell their children stories and the children are engaged and enthralled in the telling of the story.

Stories are told in every culture. Stories are fundamental in every faith. They are passed down from generation to generation.

Because we are so conditioned to listening to and enjoying stories and learning from them, stories play a vital role for leaders as they share stories with their followers.

Leaders can tell stories of how the values of the organization were demonstrated by particular employee. They can tell stories of the impact of exceptional customer service. They can tell stories of how new processes and ideas were conceived by one single and somewhat junior employee in the organization.

Stories inspire people when they becoming engaged in the content, when they can relate to not only the story, but the elements of the story that lead to the personal outcome.

Sharing stories motivates and inspires.

Examples of stories which leaders can use occur every day.

The stories should be relevant, illustrative of what people can achieve quite simply, examples of motivation, and inspiration, which all can relate to.

People remember the key elements of stories and when told with passion, and with a connection to relevance, then those hearing the story can see how easy it is for them to achieve these things.

And the key elements of the story are easily remembered.

The story should be simple, relevant, relatable, and then those hearing it will likely be motivated.

Leaders should encourage others to share stories of behaviors, actions and outcomes they have observed.

We are all, every day, living our own story in this life.

And the stories leaders share will have more impact than a strong verbal directive.

And like so many leadership behaviors - it’s not hard to do.