How can you encourage good participation in meetings?
Satisfying the need for recognition
The first motivational lever is undoubtedly to satisfy the need for recognition inherent in every human being and consequently in your employees.
A leader knows and recognizes the qualities of his teams and values them. A simple manager often only highlights mistakes.
In meetings, therefore, don’t hesitate to call your colleagues by their first names, involve them in the agenda, ask them what topics they would like to discuss and ensure that the most relevant opinions are included in the content and minutes of the meeting.
Participation and leadership guaranteed!
How can you encourage good participation in meetings?
While meetings remain an excellent way of pooling ideas, debating and above all making decisions for 62% of executives*, their effectiveness is increasingly being questioned. Accor's teams give you their advice on how to get your employees excited about meetings again and how to make sure they pay attention.
Meetings are too frequent (24 days a year for managers), too long (1 hour 20 minutes on average), not interactive enough… The criticisms are numerous and their format often weakens participants’ concentration.
Having seen how to break the meeting routine, here’s how to encourage good participation in meetings.
The first motivational lever is undoubtedly to satisfy the need for recognition inherent in every human being and consequently in your employees.
A leader knows and recognizes the qualities of his teams and values them. A simple manager often only highlights mistakes.
In meetings, therefore, don’t hesitate to call your colleagues by their first names, involve them in the agenda, ask them what topics they would like to discuss and ensure that the most relevant opinions are included in the content and minutes of the meeting.
Participation and leadership guaranteed!
We’ve all been to soporific meetings, organized after lunch break or on a Friday late afternoon… Nothing worse to encourage participants to sit back and watch the clock tick.
To avoid this, it’s essential that your meeting is lively, even entertaining. After all, nobody likes an overly formal meeting. So, don’t be afraid to be relaxed and liven up your meetings with a dose of fun, even games: organize teams, launch time-limited mini-challenges, keep score after every good intervention… Suggest any idea that might bring a playful side to your meeting.
The results will be all the better for it!
If this method doesn’t work, it’s always possible to demand participation. The message can be conveyed gently but it still needs to be assertive and very clear to everyone.
After all, the participation you expect is simply the counterpart of the recognition you’ve given to the colleagues you’ve invited to help you.
If your teams are tired of always meeting in the same windowless room or basement, why not try a new format?
- Conference calls, for example, enable you to hold meetings from the comfort of your own home, or from the comfort of your yacht;
- The stand-up meeting to avoid naps and spend less time sitting in front of your computer;
- Or shared project software such as Planner, Slack or Trello which pool all information and limit the need to send unnecessary emails.
Otherwise, you can always organize an informal get-together over a picnic in the sunshine. Participation guaranteed!