FULL TRANSCRIPT

00:00 – Show Opening

As a leader, do you know how to get the most out of every person in your meetings? I mean, it doesn’t matter what you think about the people in there because you may not have had a chance to choose all of them, but the reality is you actually have to know how to get the most out of every person that’s in there. If you want the meetings to be as productive as possible. And today on the show we’ve got another installment in our Meeting Leadership Mindset series. It’s called Why You Should Value All Personality Types In Meetings.

Are you a professional who wants to become a more effective leader? Then get ready for daily tips from the coach with the experience and inspiration to help you succeed in any leadership situation. You’re listening to the Meeting Leadership podcast with Gordon Sheppard.

00:54 – Podcast content starts here!

Welcome to another episode of the Meeting Leadership podcast. My name is Gordon Sheppard, and whether you’re out there, maybe you’re on the treadmill, you’re walking the dog, whatever you’re doing while you’re listening to this show, I really appreciate that you’re here. I really appreciate that you like putting meeting efficiency and leadership into the same bucket because you know they go so well together, and that you’re coming to this podcast to get another leadership skill tip, another strategy, something you can take into your next meeting to make it way, way better. 

01:24 – The Meeting Leadership Mindset series

It is honestly really great to have you here. And today on the show we’re going to get into a really valuable area around your own mindset and how you actually think about the people that you have to lead in your next meeting, because today we’re into the next installment in our Meeting Leadership Mindset series, and today it’s called Why You Should Value All Personality Types In Meetings.

01:40 – Recognizing personality types is essential

Now, for anybody who has to lead meetings, especially in kind of a business or a nonprofit setting, you know, you’ve got to deal with many different types of personalities. Now, some of these personalities, they’re helpful, some of them, they aren’t. But the faster you can sort of assess who’s in the room and where’s the best spot to put them in terms of how they’re going to make the most out of the situation, well, that is really the job of the leader. And to help you think about the different types of personalities that are in your meetings, see if you recognize anyone from this list.

02:11 – Listing of different personality types and how they can affect meetings

The big picture person, that’s someone who likes to … They rarely get onto the details. They really like to get up way in the sky and they talk about things from that perspective. Now they can be valuable if that’s what you need, and they can also send the whole meeting down a rabbit hole if that’s not what you need. And then of course there is the talker. This is someone who just naturally speaks on and on, which is fine, except if you’re in a meeting where they’re eating up too much floor time and taking away from everybody else in the meeting, especially people who are quiet.

Because we know that we need to get more out of the quiet people, the introverts in our meetings, but the forum itself is actually counterintuitive for them. It’s actually kind of threatening for them to actually speak out loud, takes a lot of energy for them to do it. 

03:40 – Balance out your meetings to get the most out of everyone

So balancing out the quiet people and the talkers is really important when it comes to leading meetings. And of course there’s always the cheerleader, the he who shares too much, the straight to the point person, the note taker, the wannabe leader, and of course there’s always, sneezy, grumpy, happy and anybody else who likes to sing.

I mean, there’s all kinds of personality types. This list that I’ve just gone over will help you kind of start your own when you’re thinking about who it is that you have to get your mindset set up for to deal with in your next meeting. And once you get your head around how to quickly assess who is actually in the room, then you can start to balance things out to get the most out of everybody. Let me go back to that example of the talker and the quiet one. Now, if you know who the talker is and you’ve got your mindset set up and you’ve got sort of a few little techniques to slow the talker down, then you can say those things during the meeting.

04:00 – The parking lot example

For example, the idea of having a parking lot. You actually put the words parking lot up on the board somewhere, or maybe right there on the agenda, and when the talker gets off track off topic, you say, “That’s a great idea, but let’s put that in the parking lot for now.” And then all of the other personality types in your meeting can see that you’re actually going to be limiting the talker’s time. And for someone who’s quiet and actually doesn’t know how to sort of speak up to take their time, then you can move to them and encourage them to share their ideas. 

04:32 – The positive results of using personality types

If you can get to this level where you are aware of the different types of personalities and you create really a place of trust for people to express themselves, you’re going to get more robust discussions, you’re going to get better business outcomes, you’re going to really be able to actually move your entire organization’s strategy forward when people are feeling that they can be at their best in every meeting that you lead.

04:54 – More from the  Meeting Leadership Mindset series – MLP 095 – MLP 105

If you’ve enjoyed this installment of our Meeting Leadership Mindset series, then check out episode 95 on the meeting leadership podcast. It’s called Three Pre-meeting Questions That Facilitators Must Answer, and you can get that episode by going to meetingleadershipinc.com/95. And then episode 105 is titled Meeting Leadership Mindset: How To Manage Your Team Meeting Expectations. And you can get that episode by going to meetingleadershipinc.com/105.

05:26 – Meeting Leadership Academy – https://meetingleadershipinc.com/academy 

I also want to let you know that this episode of the Meeting Leadership podcast is brought to you by the Meeting Leadership Academy. Now there, if you and your team want to find some options for live training that you can bring right into your organization to help you improve your meetings and build your leadership skills, then visit meetingleadershipinc.com/academy. And I really hope that you’ve been getting a lot out of the show, and if you have, make sure you hit the subscribe button and also take a moment to leave a rating and review so we can bring you even more great content in the future. And as always, thank you so much for listening, and we’ll see you tomorrow on the Meeting Leadership podcast.

06:06 – Podcast Outro

Thanks for listening to the Meeting Leadership podcast. Be sure to subscribe for more strategies to help you become an outstanding leader. And don’t forget to rate and review so we can bring you fresh content every day. We’ll see you tomorrow, right here on the Meeting Leadership podcast.