How you change people’s minds without saying a word
Recently, I hosted our mastermind group for a 2-day meeting in my Cincinnati office.
We had one of our most “thinking-big” and bonding meetings ever in our eight years of working together….and we agreed that the environment had a lot to do with it.
My office is in a 100-year-old warehouse with wood beam ceilings 20 feet above concrete floors. I’ve added color and texture with rugs, paint, and art on the walls. But it’s still a warehouse.
The spaciousness of the room contributed to the spaciousness of our discussions. Instead of sitting around a conference table like we often do, this time, we sat in casual “living room” chairs with open space between us. We had whiteboards on opposite sides to capture our ideas as we thought out loud.
Form follows function, and function follows form.
How can you adjust the form of where you work and live to support the function of your working and living?
Rooms with minimal physical barriers (like tables or excessive distance between people) make it easier for people to connect.
Cramped spaces without windows can generate intensity for short bursts of time. Sometimes you want that. Sometimes you don’t.
Sitting directly across from a person you’re in conflict with creates physical opposition before you’ve even said hello. Notice what happens if you shift 30 – 45º off of that line so it’s no longer a face-off.
Steve Jobs used walking and talking, often outdoors, to find solutions to difficult problems.
Would you expect to have a great development conversation with someone when you’re sitting at the same chair and desk where you crank through emails? Your habit is to be head-down in work mode in that location. Will they “feel the love” from you in that state of mind?
As you read this, even the location you’re in and the sounds you’re hearing will affect what message you receive…..
We are not robots.
Humans have senses and emotions, and the environment around us is a speaking participant in every conversation.
It’s easy to believe you’re too busy or don’t have control over the environment of your meetings. What if you committed just 10% of the effort you put into choosing what words you’ll say into planning for how the environment will affect how people hear you?
What’s an important conversation on your calendar?
Function follows form. How can you support the outcomes you want before a single word is spoken?
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