CEOs don’t miss this opportunity at your all hands meetings
You stand up to speak, welcome your employees, then you set the agenda for your all hands meeting. Then you hand over to the first of six presenters, your Chief Financial Officer. You finish by closing the meeting after your final presenter. Sound familiar?
Hearing isn't necessarily understanding
If you've spent any time in the world of learning and development you'll know that just because we tell an audience something doesn't mean they've understood it. You know what you mean when you order a beer in Spanish, until the barman hands you a lemonade...
How much is too much information?
Anything more than two information-based presentations in a row without time to reflect risks stepping into information overload territory. Adding more at this point adds not only confusion, but is like trying to keep adding petrol when the nozzle's started to click.
Narrative structure aids learning and recall
An audience receiving updates from Finance, HR, Sales, Marketing, IT, Compliance etc may struggle to connect the dots and see the bigger picture. It might just feel like a series of isolated updates, because only one of those departments is their daily reality.
You know the bigger picture
As the CEO you understand the company vision better than anybody. You can join the dots in ways everybody else can't. You see the bigger picture plus how all of the parts are related to the strategy. You see the blueprint where others just see bricks.
Bookending isn't enough
To make your all hands meetings more able to align your employees behind your objectives might it pay for you to play a more central role? That of 'event meaning maker'. The host who connects the dots from speaker to speaker and weaves them into a meaningful narrative.
Watch the masters at work
Rather than simply bookending all hands meetings with your presence, try this... Do what standup comedy comperes do and step into the gaps between each act and connect what they say to what's already been said. This makes for a highly meaningful audience experience.
Outside your comfort zone?
To really maximise audience involvement borrow again from comedy comperes and engage your audience in discussion in between each presenter to get their thoughts on what was said. You can use their comments as bricks in the narrative you're building as the meeting evolves...
