Before important client meetings, are you and your team running around handling last-minute logistics? How prepared does your team feel going into the meeting? In this episode, Shannon Waller discusses the value of bookending client meetings with clearings and debriefs to elevate the overall experience for clients and team members. Here’s the why and how of Strategic Coach’s backstage process that prepares the team for delivering exceptional front stage results.
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Show Notes:
Clearings Before Meetings:
- Positive Focus®: Starting with the Positive Focus exercise allows everyone to:
- Feel energized and excited by reflecting on a recent win.
- Get present and shift their focus from past or future distractions.
- Preview of the day: Providing an overview of what to expect during the day:
- Helps everyone get familiar with the agenda, timing, and their roles.
- Focuses the team on key conversations or key points to make.
- Setting intentions: Everyone states what they want to be true at the end of the experience, thereby creating a shared vision they’re all aligned on.
Debriefs After Meetings:
- Reflection and sharing: Debriefs at the end of the day provide an opportunity for team members and clients to reflect on the experience, share insights, and discuss key takeaways.
- Continual improvement: By discussing what worked well, areas for improvement, and any insights gained, the team can continually enhance their performance and refine their approach for future meetings.
- Leaving on a positive note: As a final wrap-up, each person shares the value they got from the meeting.
Benefits Of Clearings And Debriefs:
- Being present: The team has greater engagement in, participation in, and ownership of a superb client experience.
- Centering the results for the client: By focusing on what will allow clients to leave feeling more confident and motivated, the team can stay responsive to delivering a more personalized and impactful experience.
- Psychological and emotional preparation: The team is alert and responsive to client needs, ready to expand and elevate the thinking in the room. Everyone is more confident, clear, and prepared to take action to achieve the agreed upon-result for the client.
- Transformational experience: When the team is focused on the clients, they have the opportunity to create unexpected value for them, elevating the interaction from a transactional experience to a transformational one.
Teams can incorporate clearings and debriefs with meetings, coaching sessions, workshops, or any other key client interactions to significantly enhance the overall experience for both clients and team members. At Strategic Coach®, we also have clearings and debriefs for internal team meetings so that we can continually improve our internal experience. Though the goal is to constantly improve client satisfaction, this always has to include elevating the experience for team members too.
Resources:
Article: “Your Business Is A Theater Production: Your Back Stage Shouldn’t Show On The Front Stage.”
Free tool kit download, including The Positive Focus®