Chapter 5 – Asserting yourself

Getting the successful meeting habit

We opened this course with the following statement

The only way meetings are going to be successful is if there is progress

and the only way to get progress is for people to get ideas

and the only way people are going to get ideas is for you to make them have ideas.

In this light, every meeting becomes an opportunity for ideas and progress.

And in turn it becomes your bound duty to ensure that every meeting becomes a hotbed of creativity where ideas happen, where added-value can be generated.

But does this happen every time?

Yes it does.

But all the same, here are some excuses why people miss the opportunity:

- My meeting is only two people. It all seems like making a big deal for such a small meeting. Do I have to bother?

- The meeting is compulsory but fairly routine, and fairly boring. Why make a fuss. Do I have to bother?

- None of the people in my meeting have a single creative bone left in their bodies. They couldn’t get excited if they won the lottery. Do I have to bother?

Yes, you do bother. Here’s why.

Running successful meetings comes with experience.

This course is a guide to using core success principles which you can adapt to bring you personal and professional success. It’s not a substitute for real life.

It follows that your next objective is to learn to apply these success principles as a matter of course in all your meetings. It’s a bit like learning to play a musical instrument or kick a ball straight. You have to practice regularly.

Your goal is that every meeting – no matter how small – will be a resounding success within its scope and boundaries – that it’s potential will be truly maximised.

It must become second nature for you to run meetings on the basis of clear guiding success principles.

As you learn to apply these principles in practice you’ll get better and better at running meetings where great ideas – added-value – happen as a matter of course.

Small meetings will become better meetings. And big meetings will become great meetings.

Practice at every opportunity and watch your success grow.

Exercise 39:

Understand that if you want to be more successful then all your meetings must become more successful.

Learn to treat every meeting as an opportunity. Always look to turn bad into good, and good into great.

Tell yourself: This month I’m going to make a difference in every meeting

> Take the Initiative – it’s your Meeting