11 Apr How to change your mentality about meetings and make them matter
Ah yes, the dreaded meeting.
Whether it is because they run too long, the meeting chairperson takes over and doesn’t let anyone else speak, or you simply feel like the time is spent inefficiently, most of us have a major distaste for meetings. The good news is that it doesn’t need to be this way.
Here’s the thing: if you shift your mentality around them, changing your mindset, and no longer viewing them as a dreaded meeting, you may end up realizing that they do matter.
And when done right, meetings can have an incredible impact on you as a team player and the company as a whole.
Here’s how to change your mind about meetings:
View Meetings as an Educational Opportunity
So often, we enter a meeting, with pen and paper, and the agenda that was sent to us in an email, and zone out.
We orient our mind so we assume that we just need to hear the information, not listen to it and learn from it.
Start thinking of meetings as a chance to learn and further your education and knowledge within the company.
Ask questions, view the chair or other meeting attendees as people who can teach you something, and enter the meeting with the goal of learning something new that you can apply to your future work.
View Meetings as a Networking Opportunity
While you may think of networking as the people you connect with and interact with outside of you your business (i.e. new prospective clients or executives of other businesses), taking the time to connect and network with your own people is important also.
Each of them has something to share and offer, whether that will help you in your day to day job or on larger projects.
Look for what your fellow colleagues can teach you or offer you, and talk about what you can bring to the table.
Use meetings as a chance to network with them, get to know them better and learn more about their position in the company.
The more you know about each other and what your strengths and specialties are, the easier it will be to join forces and lean on each other’s abilities for the good of the team.
View Meetings as a Collaborating Opportunity
An office group with a common goal is only as strong as the teamwork.
Meetings, where all the departments come together, are a great chance to practice working as a team and to engage in collaborative efforts.
Sometimes collaborating takes work, as it often brings together different learning styles, diverse background knowledge, and even conflicting ideas and plans.
Meetings are a great opportunity to practice working together so that when the time comes, the stage is set for teamwork and collaboration to happen.
Whether your office holds weekly meetings, rarely holds meetings, or it seems as if there is one for you every day, there is no need to view them as a dreaded task. Instead, repaint the picture, alter your mindset, and see how they can offer you and your team incredible results and bring a variety of benefits to the company.
