The Touchwood Project

I’m still on a high from yesterday, when the 4th of July saw our Board declare independence from boring, endless, I’m-losing-the-will-to-live meetings and I thought I’d share some of the tips we learned on how to transform meetings from the ones where you feel utterly drained and bored to ones that leave you full of energy and excitement (really).

Our challenge was to sit down and at long last come up with a mission and set of values we all felt happy and comfortable with. We had struggled with this several times before, even soliciting advice from consultants and fellow training course attendees, but always ended up feeling deflated, tired and a bit depressed.

So we were determined to do things differently this time. I mean, one of our goals is to help people enjoy life, and that means ourselves too. If we’re bored out of our minds doing something, we’re just not doing it right.

The official agenda

So we scheduled a full day for this and a few other items and here’s what our initial agenda looked like:

• Mission
• Values
• Objectives
• Lunch
• Personal Development Plan
• Dinner
• Plan for Touchwood Project Friends

The actual agenda

Here’s what actually happened:

• Mission brainstorming — what are you most excited about getting out of Touchwood?
• Waving at big canoe on the sea, watching porpoises cavort for 5 minutes and laughing
• More mission brainstorming
• Tossing a ball outside in the sunshine for 5 minutes and laughing
• Lunch of freshly dived scallops (thanks to Jenni) and wild picked fat hen (Rachel and Jenni), cooked by Malcolm
• Personal development plans done!
• Discussion of costumes to be created for Harry Potter film premiere and laughing
• Values done!
• Frisbee and ball for 5 minutes and laughing
• Mission statement done!
• Impromptu BBQ, lighting of sparklers and much rejoicing at all we achieved

The main thing I learned from yesterday is that meetings don’t have to be, and shouldn’t be, dull and dry. Loosening up, having some fun, and perhaps most importantly, laughing, gets your creative and analytical juices flowing. We all felt we had a far more productive meeting — and crucially, we felt energised at the end of the day rather than drained.

An easy way to get more creative

Not everyone wants to play ball with their colleagues, but what about just using some coloured markers?

When we were drafting our Values, we used several colours of dry erasable pens (TUL brand — outstanding colours) and a dry erase sheet. Each of us grabbed a few different markers and wrote down key words we had brainstormed earlier as a list, grouping them by concept. We needed a way to reduce a list of some 30 values into 5 or 6.

All of us wrote down some of the words, putting them into different groups that seemed to relate to each other. Then each of us drew a little icon to illustrate that value group:

Writing in colours and even drawing a bit

It was then surprisingly easy to see what our values distilled down to, and the icons helped us grasp the concepts much faster and more easily than words.

Sure, I felt a bit shy about drawing like a 5 year-old. But I tell you, get a few brightly coloured markers in your hand and you just can’t help but have a bit of fun.

Coming up with our values felt effortless and easy for the first time ever.

So because of our success yesterday, we deliberately are making play and enjoyment a central part of how we operate. We’ll be putting it in our Operations Manual to encourage these moments of craziness, or “Happy Breaks” as Jenni calls them.

The science behind the effectivess of fun

Lest you think this is all wooly, touch-feely stuff, let me tell you there’s solid science behind incorporating playfulness into something as conservative as board meetings.

Thought-provoking

As Daniel Goleman explains in Social Intelligence, anxiety, worry, stress and fear all inhibit thinking well and creatively. We “frazzle” under pressure. On the other hand, research done by neuroscientist Antonio Damasio shows you think better when you’re in a good mood, with greater speed, accuracy and creativity.

So having fun, enjoying yourself and not worrying helps you be more productive AND end the day feeling good.

Laughter and getting your staff to connect

Another benefit of introducing a bit of play is that people bond much faster when they share a laugh.

Social Intelligence mentions an experiment where one person had to talk through a straw while directing a blindfolded person to toss a Nerf ball back and forth. Every time, the subjects collapsed into guffaws and laughter, and when polled later, reported an immediate sense of closeness and rapport, in direct contrast to the groups who did the same experiment minus the straw and blindfold and who never smiled or laughed.

Laughter smoothes the way for people to connect — especially those who don’t know each other well.

This is where we Adult Recess takes place

This is the outdoor space next to our meeting room where we step outside to have a quick ball toss or frisbee session (very badly thrown).

I hope all this will inspire you to think about ways to have more fun the next time you’re faced with a meeting.

As always, we’d love to hear your suggestions on what works for you or how well you feel you incorporate play into your daily life.

Now back out to the sunshine!

Tags: social enterprise, Useful books

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