If you are looking for another great way to end a meeting on a positive note, I would suggest using the Circle of Encouragement. Since we talked before about starting a meeting with wins (sharing things that people are excited about), we wanted to give you this new strategy of how to end a meeting with a lasting impression.
It can be used after a long strategy meeting, a coaching session, or any team meeting you have on a regular basis. Using this will end a meeting on a high note and in a completely different way. Each time you use it, you will get amazing results.
The Circle of Encouragement is also something we use with our clients when we work with them during The Dream Employee process.
My wife and I even use a modified version of this when we celebrate family birthdays with our kids. The power of encouragement goes a long way and you can never have too much of it!
This may be a real stretch for you. But, I guarantee it will create great culture, collaboration, and unity within your company in a profound way.
Here’s how to create a Circle of Encouragement:
- Have your team stand in a circle. (If you are doing this virtually, just give instruction as to who starts first.)
- One person starts by turning to the person on their right. For 30 seconds they say all the things that they appreciate about that person in the work that they do within the company. This is a time to speak only words of encouragement (it may be something you admire about them personally or professionally).
- Then the person that just received the encouraging words turns to the person on their right and does the same thing. Speaking words of encouragement for 30 seconds.
- This process repeats itself and goes all the way around the circle.
- When you get back to the person that started it, reverse the circle (speak to the person on your left) and go the other way and repeat the process.
- You are done when each person gets to speak and receive encouragement from the people on both sides of them.
I first learned how to do this when taking teams all over the world on mission trips to Africa, India and Haiti. After using this with about 30 different teams over the last 10 years, I’ve since adapted it to business.
Seeing the impact words of encouragement have on people prompted us to use this process with our coaching clients at the end of a meeting or training session.
What this really does is it brings unity, appreciation and respect. It creates a culture where positive things are verbalized and people get to hear about the things that they’re doing well.
This creates unity within the team.
It also helps people in the circle who don’t work together closely get to know one another better and understand what each person really brings to the team. It’s brings great value.
Do these negative comments sound familiar? “I’m overwhelmed because I’ve got 15 new things I’ve got to do”; “I didn’t understand that”; or “That meeting didn’t go well”?
I guarantee you will get a different result if you use the Circle of Encouragement at the end of the meeting.
Begin your meetings with Wins and End them with Encouragement!
Create a culture that is unstoppable and goes beyond just doing a job. You’ll be creating an atmosphere that is all about seeing the best in one another.
Everybody in this day and age needs encouragement! And so we actually put it in the meeting agenda. We teach it; we do it with people. It’s uncomfortable at first. The result is the whole culture will be transformed when people start receiving encouragement.
What we are all about at Confidence Coach is transforming cultures; making the workplace for employees and owners to be awesome.
In order to be awesome, people have to feel encouraged and to feel like they’re winning. For it to make an impact, you have to do this on a regular and consistent basis..
Let us know if you’d like more information on how to do a Circle of Encouragement at your company. We’d be glad to come in and show you how to implement it either virtually or in person. Subscribe to our YouTube channel or check us out at confidencecoach.org.
Schedule a free consultation if you’d like to talk about this area of employee engagement, employee retention, or how to improve the culture of your company.
We love what we do and we’d love to help you!
