Your team normaly meets in a conference room or someone's office, sits down and discusses a certain topic. In summer, you sometimes leave the city and hold an outdoor meeting. Even when outdoors, however, you sit most the time. Only when the meeting is over, do you stand up and go outside or take part in a team-building exercise. That is what the form of traditional meetings look like.
Those of you who like to try new things and look for ways to make the outcomes of meetings more effective, may already have implemented stand-up meetings. When everybody stands, meetings are faster, more to the point and achieve more effective results. Walking meetings may, however, be even more effective. Meetings in the form of walks are ideal for enhancing creative thinking of small work groups or one-on-one sessions.
Steve Jobs, for example, was a big proponent of walking meetings as is the founder of Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg. Would you try it too? Several compelling reasons to try walking meetings were summarized on Inc.com.
1. Walking stimulates creativity
A recent Stanford University study confirmed that while walking creative thining improves, achieving a 60% better result when compared to sitting. The most important factor, however, is not the environment in which we walk but the very movement itself while walking.
2. Walking is healthy
Sitting is as dangerous for the human body as smoking. Not enough movement and oxygen in the body will one day take its toll. As few as 30 minutes of walking a day significantly reduces the risk of dementia, heart attacks and even some cancers. That's worth considering.
3. Walking promotes natural communication
When you are walking, the borders between superiors and subordinates become less evident. People feel more relaxed to more openly express their views. Nobody plays with his phone or computer. The communication is more natural going straight to the point, which saves everybody's time.
4. Walking boosts energy
A study last year by Johnson & Johnson showed that after three months of walking meetings, employees felt higher energy levels, better focus and more engagement. Also a study by University of Essex found that five minutes of outdoor exercise are enough to significantly boost our mood and well-being.
Do you have any experience with walking meetings?
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