Think BIG!
Act Now!
Be the Change!
If you’ve been to a meeting in the last 5 years, you’ve seen these themes. These are the imperative statements that are supposed to inspire your attendees to take immediate action – you know, wind them up so tight they leave scorch marks on the ballroom carpet when they leave.
Here’s the problem:
They give employees the “what” without giving them the “how.” Think a destination without a map. Oh, they’ll get there…eventually. But how much time and energy could have been saved if you’d said which route to take?
Let’s take a sales meeting where you want your team to emulate the top 5% of performers. Sure, you could do a success story video on their big deals, but unless you communicate how they accomplished those numbers, you’ll have an audience inspired to clap hands and high five, but stumped when they get back to their office and try to emulate their colleague’s success.
To really drive the message home, you need to distill the behaviors that can become practices for the other 95%. And don’t assume people are just going to “get it” from hearing the story live or watching a video. Break those practices out of the narrative with questions like, “what are the top 3 things you do every day?” then get cut through the corporate speak – “I focus my efforts of maximizing value for my company, its shareholders and my customers” to get to those daily practices that differentiate these top performers. Maybe they spend an hour prep their days the night prior, or get ask current customers for referrals.
Bottom line: find out what they do, not just what they think.
Throughout the meeting, your content should focus on the behaviors that set the mind, not the mindset itself. Fewer pictures of things that are big and more examples of actions from people who think big.
So, the next time you’re developing a meeting theme, just remember:
Perspective (theme) + Performance (By doing these 3 things) = Inspiration your audience can put into daily Practice.