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30 Power Up Your Mind

minutes of being talked at by Geoff as he went through an interminable
PowerPoint™ presentation.
She decided to wander out to the water machine. Standing beside
it, she drank glass after glass of water and then sped back to her office.
Apart from a mountain of paperwork and email, she had two main
things she wanted to achieve that day: to hold the attention of her project
team for a very important planning meeting, and to try to convince her
boss, the new managing director, that she needed another three members
of staff if they were to complete their work on time.
Back in the office, she got straight down to her administrative
work, even though she still had a nagging headache. Apart from a few
calls, she worked pretty much uninterrupted up to lunchtime. A quick
stroll in the park, a large bottle of water and a sandwich later, and she was
ready for her meeting.
As Annie’s team came into her office, she made sure that she had a
quick word with each of them, establishing their mood and trying to make
them feel relaxed but alert. She spent several minutes with Paul who was
presenting the main part of the session. He always pleasantly surprised
her, and it looked like today was not going to be an exception.
Paul started by reminding the team why they were meeting and
checking everyone’s agreement over where they needed to get to by five
o’clock. Paul had an amusing way with words and the ability to create
mental pictures, which had all of the team laughing out loud as he
described the situation they were in. Annie found herself relaxing and
engaging in a way she had not done in her earlier meeting.
Then, instead of relying on a PowerPoint presentation, Paul asked
the eight members of the team to pair up and spend a few minutes role-
playing the job of explaining to the rest of their staff why the project was
three months behind schedule. Each pair then gave a bravura snippet from
their role-play to the whole group.There was a great deal of laughter and
Annie made a mental note to use the idea herself, especially in a meeting
after lunch when people’s attention often seemed to drop.
Then Paul turned over a flipchart sheet he had prepared earlier.
On it was a very clear mind map™ of the options they faced, expressed
visually. Finally, he gave a short verbal account of his own view of the next
steps and turned to Annie to chair the rest of the meeting.
“That was great, Paul. I specifically liked the way you got us on our