by James Rosenegk
Have a think about the last meeting that you attended – whether it was for just a few hours or for a day or more. Recall some of the agenda and remember how many speakers and presentations there were. Did you get through it all? And if you did what difference has that made to your organisation or team? Do you have greater connection and a better understanding of each other? Has trust increased (or decreased) as a result? Are you all looking forward excitedly to the next time you get together?
As a whole Kaizen team, we just spent nearly 3 days in Anzère in the Swiss Alps for our once a year “sleepover”. An event where we celebrate the previous business year, review our plans for the next one and provide development, learning and coaching for each other to propel us forwards. And as you might expect of regular meetings (even annual ones) the agenda was beginning to shape up in the way it had done in previous years…
… but last month as we discussed the meeting and thought about the outcomes and agenda, considering what our focus might be, what learning slots we were going to have and who would lead them we decided to stop ourselves and to take a dose of our own medicine. We asked ourselves “if we were advising our clients right now on what would be the most beneficial to them considering their desired outcomes, what would we be recommending?” The result was unanimous and magnificent!
So as we arrived into Geneva airport on Sunday afternoon, took the 2 hour scenic train journey alongside Lake Geneva and through familiar towns and cities such as Lausanne and Montreux, took the minibus from Sion up to Anzère, checked into our rooms, ate a delicious dinner and convened for our first session (yes, on Sunday night) what was our agenda? Well here’s the surprise:
- Review of 2010
- Business plans for 2011
Yes. That’s it for the next 48 hours!
And as each of us shared our individual review of last year we received in return input from every other team member on the unique qualities that we bring to the team; an experience sometimes humbling, yet incredibly empowering.
And as we completed those reviews, and after a delicious lunch on the top of a snow capped mountain, we returned to the meeting room to share our individual and team business plans for 2011. Not presentations – but rather live coaching sessions from the whole team full of challenge, support and yes even love!
Alastair, one of the Kaizen team, now lives here – and we enjoyed his amazing family, hospitality, and beautiful home with stunning views of the mountains. Then back to the hotel on Monday night to finish day 2. We completed the remaining reviews on Tuesday morning, and then we moved into a period of personal reflection or coaching at choice. The formal ‘close’ of the Sleepover was profoundly moving and emotional.
What was the impact and result for us?
Well as you would expect, each of us got different things that we were looking for from our time together – and still there was more. Overwhelmingly the common response when reflecting on our incredible journey, the experiences that we shared and our feed-forward into the next 12 plus months what had happened for each of us was a deeper, richer and compelling connection that will project us forward not just for this coming months but for years to come.
And yes, we realise budgets are tight.- and this might fall into the category, for some, of an unnecessary luxury in lean times, but the more enlightened organisations know better. With greater respect, stronger relationships and more understanding of each other will come even greater things for us as individuals, as a team, as a business and for our clients.
For us, less was most definitely and resoundingly more!
Your call to action:
When was the last time you properly reviewed the agenda for your meetings?
What are your expected outcomes from any of your meetings – regular or one-off?
Are you really going to get what you need from the agenda you have?
What if you cut the content by at least half? How would that impact the richness of your discussions and the actions you take? And in half again?
When was the last time that you truly made time to connect with the members of your team? It’s something often overlooked in today’s businesses and yet neuroscience and experience proves that increased “relatedness” between team members will make a big difference to your performance!*
If you’d like to talk more about how such an approach and how a deeper understanding and application of the SCARF model could impact your team and organisation then give us a call.
*Google David Rock and SCARF
