Chief Happiness Officer Alexander Kjerulf is attempting to change the work world one week at a time with his Monday Tips, which are geared towards making every work place happier and more productive with the use of some fast, simple, fun strategies designed to deliver results.

When we think about happiness in the workplace, meetings don’t typically come to mind. Meetings should be the most energizing, creative and fun activity in the workplace. Instead, they are better known as the bane of our working existence and one of the top things on the list of most-hated activities.  But according to researchers, a few simple shifts in the way we approach meetings could change all that.

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Start Meetings With a Positive Round
by Chief Happiness Officer Alexander Kjerulf

Psychological experiments can be very devious, and this one was certainly no exception. The focus was meetings and the format was simple: groups of people were asked to discuss and reach consensus on a contentious topic.

Here’s the devious bit. Unbeknownst to the other participants, one member of the group was an actor hired by the researchers. The actor was told to speak first in the discussions. In half the experiments he would say something positive while in the other half he would start by saying something critical. After that he simply participated in the discussion like the other group members.

The experiment showed that when the first thing said in the meeting was positive, the discussion turned out more constructive, people listened and were more likely to reach consensus. When the first statement was critical the mood became more hostile, people were more argumentative and consensus became less likely.

The researchers concluded that the way a meeting starts, has a large impact on the tone of the discussion and on whether or not the group will eventually reach consensus.

Many groups, projects or departments open their meetings with a “yellow – sharing information” round where each participant can say what he or she is working on. Quite often this ends up as a litany of complaints and problems. But as the experiment cited above shows, this is likely to affect the whole meeting. So do this instead: shift the yellow round so that it has a positive focus. Ask a positive opening question, such as:

• Share one thing you’ve accomplished since the last meeting that you’ve been proud of?
• Mention one thing you’re looking forward to in the coming week/month?
• What’s the funniest thing someone has told you in the last week?

You don’t need to spend a lot of time on this, just give participants 30-60 seconds to share something positive. As the experiment mentioned above shows, your meeting could become much more productive as a result.