Preparation is highly underrated these days. Somehow, people think they can just wing it and the next customer meeting, the next staff meeting, the next conversation in the hallway will go well.
If that were true, we would be looking forward to meetings instead of dreading them or feeling bored by the prospect.
What if you set an intention and a desired outcome for every meeting or conversation you plan to have?
Vistage Speaker Gerry Layo adds more layers to your preparation. He talks about the Power of 5: he has you prepare for 5 minutes and cover these 5 items: What you want to learn, uncover, discover, find out and your desired outcomes. Just spend 5 minutes.
Further preparation might include sharing your intention and desired outcomes with other participants. Find out if they help you, or if they don’t like the outcomes will they push back so that the conclusion meets everyone’s needs, not just yours.
Then, spend 5 minutes after the meeting/conversation reviewing how it went. Did it meet your intentions? Did you get an outcome or next steps with a due date and time? Is everyone committed to the action plan?
Try this for one day this week. Prepare for every meeting and assess it’s success. Let me know how well it worked for you.
Illustration courtesy of http://listen-hard.com/effective-behavior-management-strategies/