This post is written by Jessica Zéroual, Researcher & Human-Centred Design Advisor, the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat.
- The problem: Facilitators often need to spice up their workshops and engagements.
- Why it matters: Disinterested audiences result in low-energy engagement.
- The solution: Rather than ramping up your energy, try stillness and meditation.
Tired of lousy or boring icebreakers and energisers during meetings or workshops? Want to actively engage participants to prime them for more meaningful conversations and participation? The pandemic has added an additional barrier for people to connect in meetings, video conferences and workshops. As a facilitator, I have taken this as an opportunity to incorporate some activities to help get people out of their shells and into the actively engaged mindset. It’s time for you to do the same. Here are some tips and tricks to try out at your next meeting or engagement.
Whether you are facilitating a team retreat, a presentation, or a workshop, you are probably thinking about what icebreakers and energisers you could incorporate. Earlier in my career, I would pick activities that would allow participants to tap into their extroverted selves to enable them to participate in the rest of the content. Now, I approach icebreakers and energisers with a new framing. I like to focus on using these activities to enable a mindset of openness, empathy and introspection.
I typically facilitate workshops and presentations that focus on human-centred topics. While it sounds very interesting and exciting, as a facilitator, I am consistently having to think about the fact that most participants are coming in focused on organisational preservation, bound by what their group is working on and stressed about the fact they will be asked to think and do differently. I think it is safe to say that we are working towards being human-centred but at this time, it is not our default.
As a facilitator, I am consistently having to think about the fact that most participants are coming in focused on organisational preservation, bound by what their group is working on and stressed about the fact they will be asked to think and do differently.
Rewriting the compact for meetings
To prime my participants, I focus on activities that allow us all to quiet our busy minds and tap into our human qualities, such as empathy, trust, openness, and willingness. Meditation and visualisation are two tools I have integrated very early on in my workshops as well as before or after a break.
I thought about the three benefits I have experience incorporating mediation and visualisation in my presentations and workshops. There are plenty more out there but here are a few for you to think about:
Decreases stress and anxiety — We hear more about the stress and anxiety of facilitating workshops and presentations, but less about the participants’ experience with these feelings. From my own experience as a participant, I found it quite stressful to be the ideal candidate the facilitators hoped for. Am I bringing the right information to the table? Do they like what I am offering? Will I make friends? What if I say something that messes up the intention or focus? We all want to hear we are adding value and that our presence is helping the objectives to be reached to their full potential. All these questions are normal and the faster we acknowledge our humanity, the quicker we can use it to our advantage. Facilitating a group visualisation or guided meditation that focuses on breathing, acknowledgement of feelings that might be happening and setting everyone up for a safe, empathetic, and open environment helps everyone — facilitators and participants.
Increase creativity — We can all attest to the fact that being asked to generate ideas on the spot can be stressful and debilitating. People who can generate ideas easily have practised this skill and do it outside of workshops or meetings often. For many of us, we get our best ideas when we are in the shower or right before we are about to fall asleep. Sound familiar? You are not alone. By incorporating meditation, or visualisation activities prior to ideation sessions or asking people to brainstorm, you enable their minds to be more open to any idea being a good idea. You want to allow people to tap into the realm of the possibilities. By tapping into a visualisation that allows people to calm the mind and then set up the environment for ideas to flow in, you create a more exciting conversation about ideas. Additionally, the visualisation can help boost confidence, enable inspiration and an optimistic view of problems we are exploring.
Tapping into our empathy — When I am facilitating workshops that include people from different expertise and lived experiences, I try to focus on how we might build bridges that enable us to be more empathetic towards one another. It can be difficult for people to show and by default, empathise with other participants, but without it, we are risking the psychological safety of the group, the ability to talk about challenges and opportunities openly and create some distance between participants and even participants to facilitators. A meditation or visualisation activity can help everyone to ground themselves in the present moment and bring out the human qualities we sometimes have an easier time tapping into in our personal lives.
There is more to say on this topic and the benefits of incorporating activities that promote stillness and openness.
Here are a few tips I think about when I am incorporating a mediation or visualisation:
Will the audience you are working with resonate with this type of activity?
Am I the right person to be facilitating this activity?
When do I think it’s best to incorporate this activity?
Will I write a short script for this activity or focus on a simple intention or mantra?
Should I include music to accompany the guided meditation?
I hope this short opinion piece encourages you to try a meditation or visualisation activity in your next meeting, workshop, or team retreat. May you tap into people’s empathy, creativity, and openness to create an environment that will be beneficial for all. — Jessica Zéroual
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(Picture credit: Unsplash)
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