Location, location, location
It’s the sign of a stale meeting when we all sit in exactly the same place as last time.
And the time before that.
Sitting in the same place. Every time. If it didn’t start at the family dinner table, we might have learned the habit at school. We certainly learned it at work. Take a look around you at your next regular meeting. How often do people sit in the same spot, often next to the same person, every time?
If we sit in the same seat at a regular meeting, we get the same perspective, each and every time. This can lead to us having the same sort of responses, attitudes and behaviours, as a CEO confided in me recently.
He felt drained by the negativity of two people in the leadership meetings at his engineering firm.
We were talking about how he could help them re-frame their negative, default responses in meetings. Things like, ‘we’ve tried that before’ and ‘that won’t work’.
He didn’t think this would shift their thinking.
“They sit next to each other and just chuck grenades,” he complained.
💡 So why not shift them? His face lit up. He saw the potential in being more intentional about seating.
“I’ll move everyone. I reckon it’ll make a huge difference.”
It has.
Some people will relish the change but not everyone will be happy about moving.
We see it all the time in workshops. We arrive, claim a spot with our coat, bag and water bottle and settle in for the session. We nest and make it as hard as possible for the facilitator to move us.
And when we’re asked, or told, to move, we hold on tight.
I numbered off a group of CEOs the other day (1, 2, 3, 4) to get them to move to a different table (yes: tables 1 – 4). A quick move to lift engagement and vary the conversation – and oh, the complaints! Rolled eyes, sighs, ‘….are we moving permanently? Do we have to take our name cards? Do I need my book?’
As I said – tight.
Seriously, it’s vital to mix people up if the purpose is to generate ideas, understand different perspectives and collaborate to create solutions.
Let’s take this up the line. Imagine if recently elected Members of Australia’s Parliament had to change where they sit! Stay with me….
We put everyone in their usual place in our miniature model of Parliament at our recent election party (pictured). Red on one side, blue on the other, minor parties and independents in their own patch.
What if they sat in different places in the next Parliament? And changed their places often?
❓ Could the atmosphere shift from adversarial to a little more amenable?
❓ Might we see a little less bad behaviour and more courtesy?
❓ Would the chances increase for a little more cooperation rather than conflict?
❓ Could we see less confrontation and more collaboration? (one of the expressed aspirations of our new Prime Minister).
Okay, I know. I’m dreaming.
But we can shift things in our own meetings, as the engineering CEO discovered.
The practicalities of meetings are so important and overlooked. No matter how much effort we put into planning one, where we sit can undermine it, and even bring it unstuck.
So, if your next regular meeting smells a little stale, take a few minutes and ask everyone:
🤔 Do we often sit in the same place? Next to the same people?
🤔 If we sit in our usual place, do we behave in our usual way?
🤔 If we move, how might we behave? Who might we sit next to?
🤔 Will our perspective change?
We probably can’t change where politicians sit in any Parliament, but we can change who sits where, when we gather at work.
Shake it up – especially if you want to be creative, strategic and innovative.
If you’d like help shifting people, or perspectives, at your next meeting, book a 15-mins call with me. We can get a lot done in 15 minutes! Book your call HERE.
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