Shanaka Dias

Keeping the energy going in a looong meeting

Keeping the energy going in a looong meeting

I love it when a new piece of work comes in: the excitement of getting to know a new client and group, the creativity in designing a workshop which will fit the ambition and the constraints, deciding what kit to pack… And then there’s the worry and even bad dreams about the many ways it might go wrong, fall flat, peter out, end in chaos and disappointment.  

A recent assignment involved a four-day hybrid multi-lingual, multi-time zone workshop based around an organisational assessment survey tool of some 80+ questions. There were many, many ways in which this might go wrong. Amongst our concerns was energy - of the group, and of the four-person facilitation team. As someone asked when I posted about it on LinkedIn, how did we survive and maintain energy?! 

Well, we didn’t just survive, we thrived. But it took planning, prep and a willingness to press pause. Let me tell you more.