How can you break the routine and maintain attention in meetings ?
1. Give preference to morning meetings
It seems obvious, but in the rush of everyday life, we often tend to “fit” a meeting into a calendar rather than setting a schedule that’s conducive to concentration.
It is therefore advisable to prefer the morning, when the brain is most efficient, to the end of the day or after lunch, when everyone feels like taking a nap in one of Japan’s famous “nap rooms”.
How to break the routine and maintain attention in meetings?
Monday morning team meeting to plan the week, brainstorming on a new project on Tuesday, managers' meeting on Thursday and, worst of all, Friday afternoon crisis meeting which nobody wants to attend as the prospect of the weekend is already on everyone's mind…
In the corporate world, meetings come and go. Often time-consuming, sometimes fruitless, they don’t always bear the desired fruit. The cause is sometimes ill-adapted schedules, formatted proceedings, unequal speaking time and, often, a lack of dynamism and originality in the methods used. The question is: how can we break this rhythm in meetings?
Accor’s teams offer you their solutions for reversing this routine, capturing the attention of your meeting and boosting the motivation of your audience!
It seems obvious, but in the rush of everyday life, we often tend to “fit” a meeting into a calendar rather than setting a schedule that’s conducive to concentration.
It is therefore advisable to prefer the morning, when the brain is most efficient, to the end of the day or after lunch, when everyone feels like taking a nap in one of Japan’s famous “nap rooms”.
According to an Ifop* study, the average executive’s attention wanes after 52 minutes in a meeting. And after only 30 minutes for 23% of them.
Yet, the average meeting lasts 1 h 19. That’s 27 minutes of lost working time per person per meeting. At an average of three meetings a week for executives, you can do the math… Good time management is therefore essential.
If your meeting is workshop-style, it’s clear that you won’t see the end of it after just 30 minutes. In this case, consider sequencing the whole thing into smaller thematic modules in the form of a sprint, for example:
- 10-minute Q&A session,
- 15 minutes for reflection/proposals,
- 5 minutes of playback.
It’s a well-known fact that the more time you have to complete a task, the longer it will take you.
Working in limited time is always more efficient! And don’t forget to take breaks between sequences. A good break helps to refocus attention.
There’s nothing worse than seeing an inactive audience, who don’t follow the exchanges, answer their e-mails (or even a text message!) and passively attend the meeting. But this is often the symptom of a poorly animated meeting! It’s up to you to get your audience to interact. Invite them to write down their ideas rather than expressing them orally for example.
Divide your staff into small teams, or even tandem teams to encourage emulation! Each team will want to give its best and performance will be all the better for it.
Encourage them to debate each other’s proposals… The key is for everyone to feel that they are taking part in the meeting rather than feeling that they are being lectured.
Involving someone from outside the company can be a real plus for bringing a fresh perspective to an aspect of your work. For example, a comedienne could do an awareness-raising sketch on the subject of sexism in the workplace, or a top-level sportsman or woman could explain the importance of teamwork… anything is possible!
The important thing is to break the routine and always distill a little humor into your exchanges. It’s always better to work in a good mood!
*Sondage Ifop – Wisembly, Cadre & Vie au travail, mars 2015
