Preparing for Effective Tool Box Meetings
No-one is born with engaging meeting, training or presenting skills.
Unfortunately, many employees find themselves standing in front of a room full of their work colleagues at the morning toolbox meeting feeling nervous, inadequate and poorly equipped to handle the disengaged audience in front of them.
There is an art, science and skill to running engaging and effective Toolbox meetings, just like any other presentation or job task.
You wouldn’t let any professional perform their job without sufficient training, so don’t ask your key people to present, train or run meetings without the right training and preparing for effective tool box meetings.
It’s not productive and it can damage confidence and future leadership capability.
Let your toolbox presenters find their meeting mojo!
If you find yourself in this position and need some quick meeting mojo tips, below are 7 to get you started.
1. Change your own attitude to meetings.
If you want your audience to be engaged, you too must be excited about the upcoming meeting/training. If you put the work in, prepare well and have an optimistic attitude to the meeting, your team will be more likely to be more invested in what you have to say. The more confident you are, the e confident your audience will be in your message.
2. Have a great opening, one that incites curiosity and gets attention.
I’ve seen some shockers. The ones when the presenter explains how they know no-one really wants to be there. Or they start by stating ‘you know the drill’. An interesting opening statement, an image or a great story can be a super way to get attention right from the start.
3. Remind them of what’s in it for them – connect emotionally.
If the team in front of you see no personal benefit from listening or participating in the conversation, it’s difficult to engage them at all. Remind them of why the message is important to them too and take note that ‘Emotion trumps Logic’ so connect on an emotional level as well as a logical level.
4. Aim to increase interactivity.
No-one likes to be talked at. Get the team involved in the conversation. Ensure the team knows their contribution is valuable.
5. Learn how to facilitate great conversation.
Facilitation is a great skill to learn and master. Get better at asking the right questions and making sure that everyone in the room has their say and feels safe to share and that their contribution is valued throughout the meeting.
6. Mind your language, your words matter.
I don’t just mean watch your bad language (although don’t assume everyone in the room is okay with you using swear words) choose your words and language carefully. There are many persuasive words and phrases that will get the team on your side and others that will have the team seeing red. Are you aware of your words and language patterns?
7. Be creative.
I don’t mean your meetings have to become a circus act each morning, however you can think outside the box and have a little fun too with themes, visuals, props and activities.
Get the team excited about your morning meetings. The more invested you are in your meetings the more invested your team will be in attending and contributing to them.
Do you some help to spice up your team meetings? Do you need to help preparing for Effective Tool Box Meetings? Is it time you invested in training for your meeting facilitators?
Paula Smith
Presentation Intelligence
Paula has been helping experts, organisations and executives harness the power of speaking for the past 30 years and delivers courses in Presentation Skills, Presentation Intelligence®, Neuropresenting®, Mastering Meetings and Leadership. With a degree in adult learning and a master’s degree in leadership, she assists entrepreneurs, experts and executives to lead from the front of the room and will ensure your next meeting or presentation hits the mark.
