How to Start a Real Meeting [Wise Wednesdays]

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 In a world where it’s easy to outsource thinking - via social media, news, politics - many meetings drift without depth. Why? Because people aren’t fully present. Their body is in the room but not their awareness. Their attention is fragmented by external inputs and daily stress.

As a result, meetings default to information reports, conflict, or stagnation. Creativity vanishes. Energy drops. Progress halts.

After a recent guest lecture to doctors and healthcare professionals, it was clear: people long for realness - real contact, real thought, real feeling, real conversation. Not funny posts. Not productivity theatre. But alive presence.

1. Begin in SilenceLet people sit quietly for a minute. This cuts false urgency and social chatter. It invites arrival. It recalibrates nervous systems. Resist filling the space. [Research shows that even a brief moment of silence at the start of a meeting can reduce stress and improve focus (Mindfulness Interventions, Creswell, 2017).]

2. Ask: “What’s it like to be you right now?”This bypasses false performance. It invites authenticity - dullness, tension, worry. Whatever’s true. It reconnects people with themselves. [Emotional check-ins, increase honesty and psychological safety (Project Aristotle, Google).]

3. Then ask: “What’s it like to be us right now?”This shifts attention from self to group. It softens hierarchy, tension, and comparison. It creates cohesion. [Group reflection builds trust and cohesion, the foundation of high-performing teams (Harvard Business Review, 2017).]

Let people share without commentary. Say “thank you.” That’s all. Don’t get into fixing mode. It shuts down authenticity. Let presence do the work. It restores trust fast (at work or at home).

Five to ten minutes of this will save you hours.

Presence cuts through noise.

Insight dissolves perceived obstacles.

Then, the best action becomes obvious to all.

It may require some practice. It may be uncomfortable. But isn’t that leadership? Making the difficult path a little easier.

To liberation,

Amina




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