Listening in Meetings

I attended a meeting yesterday with my colleague with an outside contact.

The latter had requested the meeting as he was interested in putting together a bespoke - very specific - training programme for the industry he works in.

It was a "creative" industry and one where there is a lot of flair but, in his opinion, a relatively limited amount of business understanding and acumen. As it was a creative industry (which is my background) I was personally particularly interested.

The person involved had recently undertaken some marketing training humself and had found it not only very useful but, also, fascinating. It was clear that he was highly motivated, enthused and convinced of the benefits of the project and I got the impression that it could very well be a great opportunity from our/my perspective!

I personally was very interested in what he had to say and enthused also. However, during the - one hour long - meeting, I noticed my mind drifting, and concentration flagging, on a couple of occasions. I had to bring myself back quickly to the "situation" but did miss a couple of important points.

When I speak to other people about this occurrence they, too, say that they don't concentrate fully throughout conversations, but I am still aware that I am not operating as effectively as I should in this area.

As visitors to my site (in particular the "listening" forum) will know, it is something that I have worked hard on to rectify over the last few years. Its importance throughout my business/managerial career has become increasingly impressed upon me. However, I still need to do more.

What? Well, before the next meeting I am going to try to mentally prepare more fully. Stop, focus and think about what lies ahead and register in my mind that during the meeting nothing else should enter into the equation and that I will be focusing only on what is said. I try to ensure that my mind does not wander onto future tasks or issues. In other words: concentrate solely on the "here and now".

During the meeting I am also going to make a conscious effort to really listen: to focus on the words, really "listen" to what they mean and ensure that the points are registered cognitively internally.

After the meeting I am also going to look at my notes (which, of course, I always take) and mentally go over the ground again; make sure that I fully understand what was dicusssed and mentally rehearse and retain the key points.