It is important to not allow your team and business meetings to get too negative. This is easy to do especially if your company is growing quickly and you have many 'growing pains'. Managers often view meetings as a business tool to address and solve problems. This is certainly a function of the meeting and a part of why the meeting can be such a useful business tool. To use this tool effectively managers should constantly be working on their agendas and good managers do. They do not take the meetings lightly or make them to be a routine. 

However. In the process of addressing problems a business meeting agenda can become a series of negative issues. 'If it's a problem then let's put it on the agenda.' Unless managers pay attention to their business meeting tool it can become negative and something to be dreaded or even avoided by employees. The following are some tips on how to keep your meetings postive:

1.  Address participants with a smile, a greeting and if possible a handshake. This puts all at ease and creates a more relaxed atmosphere.

2.  Have different people conduct the meeting. This creates interest, gives different employees a chance at a new experience and keeps the naysayers from getting too grumpy.

3.  Make certain you have sections in the agenda for input. Even if your agenda is truly a negative one it will be perceived as more negative if no employee input is allowed.

4.  Use humor. Start the meeting with something light. I use toys. Even if your topics are negative ones you can lessen the negativity factor by adding humor.

5.  Address problems directly and the responsible employees indirectly. This is a true skill that can be honed over time. When employees are addressed directly about something negative they often become defensive and upset. By focusing on the problem they often can see the point without taking it personally and getting defensive. This method is results oriented. Think of positive spins you can put on negative topics. This is not as hard as it sounds especially if you put a little effort behind it.

6.  Balance the agenda with some positives. No matter how bleak things are if you look hard enough you can find something positive to bring up.

7.  Add a permanent positive item. My favorite is "What have you done in the past week that you are most proud of?" Try this for your next 4 meetings. The initial response may be tepid and the question may sound corny. But after several meetings employees will begin to think throughout the week of things they can be proud of. This is incredibly positive. It can become the highlight of the meeting and you will get many complaints if it is taken off. I like to put this near the end of the agenda so all leave with at least some positive feelings.

Last Modified 25/07/07