One Meeting Minute Thought for Your Week
Trust is essential for healthy human relationships.
And, trust is the foundation for productive, effective meetings too.
But trust is a challenging, complex topic.
Knowing who to trust as well as when and how much to trust them is complicated.
Don’t let that discourage you though. You can start building trust in your meetings immediately by doing something almost anyone can do (although most people don’t do it very well!)
The First Step To Start Building Trust
Taking the first step to create a meeting environment that fosters trust amongst your coworkers is simple.
Do this to get started.
👂Listen with the intent to truly understand those who are speaking.
Help them to recognize that you truly want to hear their perspective and that their input is important to you.
Through your actions, show the people in your meetings you value them.
Here are some practical ways you can do this.
5 Practical Tips To Start Building Trust In Your Meetings
- Build time into your agenda to allow others to voice what’s on their minds.
- Avoid interrupting someone who is speaking to explain how they’re wrong (and you’re right).
- Recognize when someone is interrupted and interrupt the interrupter to let the person finish their thought.
- Explicitly share with the group that you want to hear what they have to say. (Say that out loud!)
- Exercise self-control because patiently listening to someone isn’t natural or easy.
Start Building Trust In Your Meetings Because It’s Worth The Effort
That last tip deserves some additional comments.
Patiently listening to someone while they’re speaking is NOT easy.
It takes significant self-control to keep your thoughts from escaping your mouth. And, even more self-discipline to keep your mind focused on what the other person is saying.
Listening well is hard work! But the effort is necessary if you want to start building trust in your meetings.
And, all the effort you put into listening to build trust is worth it!
When people feel heard, understood, and known, they begin to trust.
And if you establish ground rules for your meetings to support trust building, you won’t be the only one in your meetings listening to understand.
You can set expectations for your meeting participants so they learn how to build trust too.
The more trust exists in your meetings, the more productive and effective they’ll be.
Just like healthy relationships, the best meetings are built on trust.
More Resources to Help You Build Your Career and Your Business
I recently finished Dr. Henry Cloud’s latest book and I HIGHLY recommend it.
I’ve suggested it for several clients and colleagues and they agree with my perspective. This book is life-changing – for your work and personal life.
It’s called Trust: Knowing When to Give It, When to Withhold It, How to Earn It, and How to Fix It When It Gets Broken.
You can also learn more about Dr. Henry Cloud on his website (drcloud.com).
Or, you can listen to Henry Cloud talk with Dave Stachowiak on this Coaching for Leaders podcast episode:
🔷 The Starting Point for Repairing Trust.
You may also like these blog posts I’ve written on the topic of listening.
🔷 How to Listen to Understand not Just to Hear
🔷 More Tips on How to Listen to Understand not Just to Hear
🔷 Why We are Poor Listeners and How to Improve
🔷 How To Be A Better Listener and A Kinder Leader
And this episode of the Connect Mobilize Deliver podcast.
🔷 CMD 010: How To Lead By Listening Well
And Now a Word from Our Sponsors
If you read last week’s issue of M4 (click here if you missed it!), you know I’m a huge fan of the Working Genius model and use it as a productivity tool in my own career almost every day.
Why am I so committed to the Working Genius model?
Because it’s designed to help people experience Joy, Energy, and Fulfillment in their lives by doing the type of work they’ve been designed to do.
If that sounds like something you want for you and your teams, contact me (click here) and let’s have a conversation.
I’m a Working Genius Certified Facilitator and would love to talk about how you can apply the model to help you and your people find more engagement and success in their work.
We can design an affordable coaching or consulting package to help you and your teams get more done in less time and enjoy work more than ever.
Let’s talk about the next step that’s best for you!
That’s All for this Issue
The foundation supporting the M4 – the Monday Morning Meeting Minute is a theme of leading with kindness and confidence. And, the best leaders listen well and build trust.
So view your meetings as opportunities to apply and improve your leadership skills.
Invest the time to listen with the intent to understand during your meetings and start building trust in the process.
Let’s lead with kindness and confidence!
Greg
Here are 3 ways I can help you when you’re ready:
- Get more free resources you can use today (Click here to Start)
- Improve on your own with digital courses (Click here to Improve)
- Accelerate your progress with coaching (Click here to Accelerate)
New To This Newsletter?
Subscribe here so you don’t miss what I share in the next issue.
Want To Help Others?
If this issue helped you, it will probably help someone else. Please share it with your connections to fuel the global movement to Stop Bad Meetings!