Cultivate a Dissociated State in Meetings to Perform Better
When we’re in an Associated state during a meeting we’re emotionally involved and probably performing less than optimally. When we’re in a Dissociated state we’re more objective, less passionate, more observant and better evaluators. If you’re watching your performance in the meeting, too closely, you’re in an Associated state. For example, participating with a What Will People Think of Me [WWPTM] mindset will reduce your performance. It’s obviously better to be in a Dissociated state to do best in meetings. Here are some ideas.
1] Prepare in advance. See the last blog post for more on that.
2] Watch to see when you get into an Associated state and try to change to Dissociated. Sometimes you’ll need to take a time-out, for example.
3] Have a role model. Catalogue times in the past when you performed well in meetings, so you can recall and mimic the experience when needed. Watch people who are performing well in meetings and appear to be Dissociated.
4] After meetings makes notes about what went well, what went poorly and what you could have done differently. Keep those notes.
