Meeting closing exercises, any advice, examples?

February 13, 2018 10:11 AM

Greetings, I joined a new workstream at work focused on child health. The team leader asked me to create and lead a closing reflection exercise. The meetings are on a conference line with a small group, and we know each other well. It would be nice to have a spiritual element.

I have not had much luck with Google. Last week, I asked folks to share one thing that they learned or one action step they will take. I have also asked folks to reflect on a gift they received from the meeting and a wish for the project.

Any ideas?? Thank you!

posted by TRUELOTUS to Work & Money (7 answers total)

It would be nice to have a spiritual element.

Is your employer based in a particular spiritual or faith tradition? If so, that'd be a good source to draw on. If not, it would most likely be inappropriate, regardless of how well team members may know one another.
posted by Tomorrowful at 10:34 AM on February 13, 2018 [4 favorites]

Further, if your employer is any sort of government institution, any invocation of religion might well be out-and-out unconstitutional. Most large companies also have discrimination/harassment policies that include religion. So I'd be careful. The examples you give are anodyne (though I personally would find them deeply irritating), but any venture into a faith tradition is a potential minefield.
posted by praemunire at 11:35 AM on February 13, 2018 [2 favorites]

Response by poster: Spiritual and religious are different. Spiritual in this sense is the same as inner reflection.
posted by TRUELOTUS at 12:22 PM on February 13, 2018

Can you say what your goal is with the "closing reflection exercises"? Like praemunire, I would find the ones that you give as examples irritating, mostly because they just come off as "busy work" to me. In my experience, things like that often are a competition for who can be the most insightful, eloquent, or generous.

So, is there a specific goal to these exercises or are they just what your leader thinks you're "supposed" to do at the end of a meeting?
posted by Betelgeuse at 2:21 PM on February 13, 2018

Best answer: I think maybe keep it simple with a quote about children/health/compassion etc. and have everyone take a moment to share how they can take on the spirit of the quote into the coming week. Each meeting could have a different quote and a simple moment of reflection right after. That way it will be new each time, but still easy.
posted by Vaike at 2:37 PM on February 13, 2018 [1 favorite]

For me, work is work. I do not want to discuss "gifts I received" from participating in a conference call (?!) or waste time listening to people recap things they learned or engage in spiritual exploration. I would most appreciate the "action step" you mentioned, to ensure that everyone is on the same page with what needs to happen moving forward, so we can all get our work done.

So I would stick with that. It gives everyone a chance to go around at the end, which it sounds like may be what your team leader is looking for, while accomplishing something productive.

If you're looking for something more inspirational rather than functional, you could consider reading a quote related to your workgroup's topic at the end of each call; people who are into personal contemplation can mull over it after they hang up. Some of these from Michelle Obama could work.
posted by metasarah at 2:38 PM on February 13, 2018 [1 favorite]

Best answer: I've worked with a lot of organizations that do this kind of thing. The two that work best are either a brief guided meditation and going around the room saying just 1 word that describes your experience right now. Another one that seems to resonate as well is asking attendees at the start to state their mood on a scale of 1-10 and then repeat the exercise at the end.

Check out what social entrepreneurs do - you might have better luck if you add that term to your google searches for more ideas. Also, feel free to memail me about this.
posted by A hidden well at 6:22 PM on February 13, 2018