People often come to meetings with emotions, be they good or bad. \u00a0Emotions are often created during meetings (be they good or bad). \u00a0Regardless of where the emotions come from, they can derail a meeting. \u00a0Or they can make it interesting – in a good way if controlled and managed\u00a0or a bad way if unbridled). \u00a0Therefore part of running a good meeting is recognizing and managing emotions.<\/p>\n
Abraham Maslow’s hierarchy of needs offers a frame \u00a0for categorizing the emotions that might show up in the meeting room. \u00a0The most labile of emotions will come from those who don\u2019t feel safe or secure. \u00a0A leader can create safety by\u00a0using\u00a0simple \u201cicebreakers\u201d, being genuinely thankful people are there, and\/or being clear about the agenda and the process. \u00a0Safety is helpful but not sufficient.<\/p>\n
A meeting can still get\u00a0rocky if there is\u00a0feeling of failure or lack of empowerment (low esteem). \u00a0The leader at this point must emphasize recent successes no matter how small.\u00a0 Remind the group of their purpose and vision.\u00a0 Be positive and encouraging. \u00a0Individuals need to feel confident in their ability to contribute and succeed for a meeting to have optimal participation free of distracting emotions. \u00a0Once this need is met, then the leader is ready to address the\u00a0next\u00a0hierarchy of need, which is cooperation or sense of belonging.<\/p>\n
It’s easy to assume that cooperation exists among a group. \u00a0The person facilitating the meeting \u00a0may not be aware that there are people in the room who are resentful of\u00a0one another and\/or have lost trust in one another.\u00a0 If there is lack of cooperation, then time must be devoted to a conversation where differences are discussed, shared values and purpose are mined for and brought to the surface.<\/p>\n
The leader may want to remind the group of the diverse strengths people bring to the room, emphasize how working together will bring the best results, and perhaps discuss shared interests.<\/p>\n
Those who aren\u2019t feeling part of the group will become disengaged and their negative emotions may impact the effectiveness of the meeting\u00a0.\u00a0 Sometimes the work done on gaining cooperation helps, but when it doesn\u2019t, the leader might call on those who might feel on the fringe to provide their thoughts about something, tell a positive story about a recent accomplishment of that individual, or openly praise them for something well done.<\/p>\n
Only once the group’s hierarchy of needs have been addressed\u00a0is the meeting ready to accomplish its goal \u2013 \u00a0to create new ideas, a new approach, a new way of seeing something, or a new plan.<\/p>\n
Once the creating and growing begins its natural for divergence. \u00a0The leader\u2019s role is to drive convergence, which can be accomplished by addressing the 5th<\/sup> emotional need in Maslow\u2019s model: the need to be driven by core values and a purpose larger than oneself.\u00a0 The perfect time to bring back the mission, vision, guiding principles, and shared values of the group.\u00a0 This will drive them to come to a \u201cfinal\u201d solution or plan, to reach the goal of the meeting.<\/p>\n Having the results of a meeting wrapped around purpose and meaning gives it energy, which\u00a0will carry it out of the meeting room and into action.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" People often come to meetings with emotions, be they good or bad. \u00a0Emotions are often created during meetings (be they good or bad). \u00a0Regardless of where the emotions come from, they can derail a meeting. \u00a0Or they can make it interesting – in a good way if controlled and managed\u00a0or a bad way if unbridled). […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[5],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/leadingachildrenshospital.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/82"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/leadingachildrenshospital.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/leadingachildrenshospital.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/leadingachildrenshospital.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/leadingachildrenshospital.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=82"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"http:\/\/leadingachildrenshospital.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/82\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":141,"href":"http:\/\/leadingachildrenshospital.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/82\/revisions\/141"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/leadingachildrenshospital.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=82"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/leadingachildrenshospital.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=82"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/leadingachildrenshospital.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=82"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}