Not more, but better meetings

This week we are exploring how leaders (that’s you) can communicate with your team more effectively by leveraging the brain’s executive functions of attention, inhibition, and working memory.

In Boundaries for Leaders, Dr. Henry Cloud gives an example of a company that created a simple daily team meeting that utilized the way the brain works to keep a team focused on what matters.

The leader started this 20-minute, first thing-in-the-morning meeting by naming people who had some kind of recent victory. One would get to tell their story of how they did it, sharing the key elements, the process, and the behaviors. Others would ask questions: How did this come about? How did you deal with such-and-such? Who helped you? This helped keep everyone’s attention remained on what mattered.

Next, the leader encouraged someone to share something they recently learned about the market, the competition, their team, a product, or anything relevant to their work. The leader asked follow-up questions designed to keep staff focused on what was important, and conscious of what isn’t. This helped remove inhibition.

Finally, people would present a challenge they were dealing with so the group could help solve it. Not only did this remove barriers and reduce silos, but it also built the team’s working memory.

The team left the meeting focused, energized, and ready to attack the day.