1 00:00:03,000 --> 00:00:09,320 Speaker 1: Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of iHeartRadio. Good Morning, 2 00:00:10,600 --> 00:00:15,960 Speaker 1: This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast. Today's 3 00:00:16,000 --> 00:00:19,720 Speaker 1: tip is to take a moment to connect before you 4 00:00:19,880 --> 00:00:24,880 Speaker 1: end a meeting or any other professional conversation. You work 5 00:00:24,920 --> 00:00:28,960 Speaker 1: with people, and these little moments of connection can make 6 00:00:29,000 --> 00:00:35,159 Speaker 1: an entire work day feel more meaningful. We are all busy, 7 00:00:35,880 --> 00:00:38,720 Speaker 1: and if you are listening to this podcast, my guess 8 00:00:38,880 --> 00:00:40,480 Speaker 1: is that you get a lot done in a day. 9 00:00:41,400 --> 00:00:44,960 Speaker 1: You move judiciously from one thing to the next, and 10 00:00:45,040 --> 00:00:48,440 Speaker 1: that is great. But even as you are doing that, 11 00:00:49,159 --> 00:00:52,880 Speaker 1: it is possible to create meaningful moments during any task 12 00:00:53,240 --> 00:00:57,720 Speaker 1: that involves other people. Doing so is often more productive 13 00:00:57,800 --> 00:01:03,320 Speaker 1: in the long haul than being all business. Perhaps you 14 00:01:03,360 --> 00:01:06,000 Speaker 1: already start most meetings with the little chit chat saying 15 00:01:06,000 --> 00:01:10,160 Speaker 1: hello before getting down to business. Today's tip is about 16 00:01:10,200 --> 00:01:13,720 Speaker 1: continuing with that spirit and putting a tiny bit of connection. 17 00:01:14,280 --> 00:01:19,360 Speaker 1: At the end of any meeting or conversation. After you 18 00:01:19,440 --> 00:01:23,840 Speaker 1: have summed up key takeaways and restated any action items, 19 00:01:24,720 --> 00:01:27,880 Speaker 1: you can take a moment to do something to honor 20 00:01:28,160 --> 00:01:35,160 Speaker 1: the relationship that is connect before you disconnect. For instance, 21 00:01:35,200 --> 00:01:38,520 Speaker 1: if you are leading a team meeting, celebrate something that 22 00:01:38,640 --> 00:01:41,720 Speaker 1: happened with the team. Maybe it's a whole team win, 23 00:01:42,360 --> 00:01:45,680 Speaker 1: or maybe it's something cool that one person did. You 24 00:01:45,680 --> 00:01:49,600 Speaker 1: can take about sixty seconds to let that person bask 25 00:01:49,600 --> 00:01:54,640 Speaker 1: in your praise before everyone goes out to get more coffee. 26 00:01:54,720 --> 00:01:59,000 Speaker 1: Other times, the final connection can be entirely personal. Maybe 27 00:01:59,000 --> 00:02:02,880 Speaker 1: a client's daughter just started kindergarten. After you have worked 28 00:02:02,920 --> 00:02:05,720 Speaker 1: through the planned content of your call and as you 29 00:02:05,720 --> 00:02:07,880 Speaker 1: are wrapping up, you might say, well, I have another 30 00:02:07,920 --> 00:02:10,000 Speaker 1: call in just a few minutes, but before I go, 31 00:02:10,360 --> 00:02:14,040 Speaker 1: tell me how is Sierra doing in school. At the 32 00:02:14,200 --> 00:02:16,640 Speaker 1: end of a weekly team meeting, as everyone is gathering 33 00:02:16,639 --> 00:02:18,960 Speaker 1: their things to leave, you might ask what people are 34 00:02:19,000 --> 00:02:22,880 Speaker 1: looking forward to for the upcoming long weekend. Before you 35 00:02:22,919 --> 00:02:25,040 Speaker 1: get up to leave your boss's office after a one 36 00:02:25,040 --> 00:02:28,320 Speaker 1: on one, you might congratulate her on her favorite team's 37 00:02:28,360 --> 00:02:31,040 Speaker 1: recent win and ask her what she thought of the game. 38 00:02:32,600 --> 00:02:36,079 Speaker 1: Everybody has stuff to do, and I am not recommending 39 00:02:36,120 --> 00:02:41,000 Speaker 1: that meetings expand to include lots of personal conversation. This 40 00:02:41,160 --> 00:02:45,919 Speaker 1: idea to connect before you disconnect only works in scenarios 41 00:02:45,960 --> 00:02:49,760 Speaker 1: where meetings generally do start and end on time and 42 00:02:49,840 --> 00:02:54,280 Speaker 1: don't get sidetracked to discussions of things like office fridge policies, 43 00:02:55,560 --> 00:02:58,079 Speaker 1: you need to have the discipline to get through your 44 00:02:58,120 --> 00:03:01,720 Speaker 1: material in enough time time that you leave space for 45 00:03:01,760 --> 00:03:05,160 Speaker 1: people to get to their next meeting and to have 46 00:03:05,200 --> 00:03:09,200 Speaker 1: a two minute conversation about something. You could even phrase 47 00:03:09,240 --> 00:03:12,359 Speaker 1: it as a lightning round question. We have two minutes 48 00:03:12,400 --> 00:03:14,160 Speaker 1: before I am shipping everyone out of here to their 49 00:03:14,160 --> 00:03:18,040 Speaker 1: next thing. I want to know what everyone's doing this weekend. Go. 50 00:03:19,560 --> 00:03:22,680 Speaker 1: But here's the thing. People want to work with people 51 00:03:22,960 --> 00:03:26,600 Speaker 1: who care about them. When you remember that the client 52 00:03:26,800 --> 00:03:28,840 Speaker 1: just got a new dog or her kid just started 53 00:03:28,880 --> 00:03:32,400 Speaker 1: at a new school, she feels more positively about working 54 00:03:32,400 --> 00:03:36,640 Speaker 1: with you in the future. Same for team members. When 55 00:03:36,640 --> 00:03:39,200 Speaker 1: you care what they are looking forward to, they want 56 00:03:39,200 --> 00:03:43,160 Speaker 1: to work with you again, and that saves you so 57 00:03:43,320 --> 00:03:46,160 Speaker 1: much time and effort. When you are staffing up projects, 58 00:03:46,880 --> 00:03:51,160 Speaker 1: people are asking to work with you instead of trying 59 00:03:51,200 --> 00:03:55,480 Speaker 1: to avoid you. How cool is that? And you'll enjoy 60 00:03:55,560 --> 00:03:59,560 Speaker 1: work more if you have more interesting conversations, which tend 61 00:03:59,560 --> 00:04:04,400 Speaker 1: to come from taking an interest in people's lives. So 62 00:04:04,560 --> 00:04:07,119 Speaker 1: don't be too quick to say goodbye in your work 63 00:04:07,160 --> 00:04:11,640 Speaker 1: calls and meetings. Take just a moment to connect Before 64 00:04:11,640 --> 00:04:16,719 Speaker 1: you disconnect, work may start to feel better and you 65 00:04:16,839 --> 00:04:22,039 Speaker 1: may become more effective at your job too. In the meantime, 66 00:04:22,839 --> 00:04:27,159 Speaker 1: this is Laura. Thanks for listening, and here's to making 67 00:04:27,160 --> 00:04:37,520 Speaker 1: the most of our time. Thanks for listening to Before Breakfast. 68 00:04:38,080 --> 00:04:41,840 Speaker 1: If you've got questions, ideas, or feedback, you can reach 69 00:04:41,880 --> 00:04:51,560 Speaker 1: me at Laura at Laura vandercam dot com. Before Breakfast 70 00:04:51,600 --> 00:04:55,880 Speaker 1: is a production of iHeartMedia. For more podcasts from iHeartMedia, 71 00:04:55,920 --> 00:04:59,840 Speaker 1: please visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you 72 00:05:00,080 --> 00:05:01,240 Speaker 1: listen to your favorite shows.