Ice-Cream Meetings

I have a confession. When spring arrives I like to talk business over an ice-cream! It’s so much better than the intense 121’s we often have all throughout the winter.

Whether it’s with your boss, team member, or even a client, I find that sometimes two-people working through issues eyeball-to-eyeball can have an intensity that can detract from a free-flowing collaborative tone that is sometimes sorely needed.

I’m a huge fan of moving some of my meetings outdoors to parks and open spaces. I’ve found this can have a really positive impact on chemistry, allowing solutions to present themselves without being forced.

Suddenly, you’re no longer at war with a critical issue, but letting the energy of life and greenery inspire new perspectives in a way that a 2 x 2m meeting room with strip-lights simply couldn’t achieve.

There’s also something hugely disarming about having a business meeting while eating an ice-cream. It might be the association to childhood and simpler times than loosens the shoulders, or a light-hearted reminder that we’re all human beings, but I’ve achieved some of my best breakthroughs when armed with a mint-choc-chip cone instead of a whiteboard marker.

It might also be the reduced pressure of not having to read and meter the facial expressions of the person you’re with. Walking together side-by-side I find myself able to bathe in the contents of their words, absorbing them fully. Silences between sentences seem less pressured. Giving both people an opportunity to share a 30 second pause that in a meeting room might be uncomfortable. It provides thinking time to ponder before responding, allowing thoughts to form more fully before being presented.

The arrival of spring is great. And while others thoughts turn to getting their physique ready for the return of summer, it’s a time when I’m usually a couple of kilo’s heavier, and a great deal more creative.

So, if you receive an invite from me that says ‘Ice Cream’ under location, please do tell me if you’re lactose intolerant.