It's Monday. The start of your week. Are you doing the same thing you do every Monday? Your alarm goes off the same time. You hit that snooze the same number of times (zero is a number.) You fix yourself the same breakfast, take the same route to work, and stop at the same coffee shop, having the same flavored coffee fixed the same way...again.  

It's Monday, so that means a staff meeting, answering emails, reporting the same stuff to the same people using the same words and the same communication style--expecting the same response from the boss and your peers.

Are you sure that's what you want to do? Maybe it's time to shake things up. Try something new.

Let's start with that status report you make at the Monday morning staff meeting. Instead of providing a snapshot of where things are, how about giving a report that helps others really understand what's going on, and, perhaps most importantly, what it means to them!

Status reports tend to look like your bank balance -- simply a snapshot of a moment in time.  It's not a realistic look at your banking situation. It doesn't show the deposits not yet deposited or the checks not yet taken out. It doesn't reflect that check that you're confident is coming in on Tuesday.

Instead, wouldn't your boss rather have an understanding of what it all really means? 

Instead of "waiting for information from XYZ department," how about telling them when you expect the information and what will happen when you do.  "XYZ is scheduled to have this information to us by Wednesday so that we can do the ABC and have it to the customer by the first of the month deadline."  Your manager and peers want understanding, not simply a snapshot that is, at best, outdated, and at worst, misleading.

While you're at it, how about switching things up to focus on how things in your department affect others -- as opposed to how they affect you and your team.  Anyone else tired of hearing people talk about themselves in their reports while we wait our turns and make our to-do lists?

Instead of "I'm going to tell you how hard our team is working and what we're doing that's so important to us."  How about, "You'll get an update on some of the projects that may impact what you're working on so that you can make good decisions about your projects and use of your resources."  "Here's how it affects you..."

And if you're the manager running a meeting where people go around the room telling you what they're doing without relating it to everyone else in the department,-- it's time to stop wasting others' time!  How much time, money, and energy are you and others spending in seemingly irrelevant meetings?

If you want to know the status of projects, meet with people individually. No need to waste everyone's time as you go around the room to hear everyone's reports while others wait their turns. If you want others to learn how one project and its resources can affect others' projects and resources, make sure that's what gets reported.

One of my coaching clients has done this recently. To hear her tell it, this one change has take their meetings from a snooze-fest to a highly interactive collaboration. People no longer dread the Monday morning staff meeting because it helps them effectively and strategically set their weekly priorities, leverage others' efforts, and manage their resources more efficiently.

Wouldn't you love it if people would focus their reports on information that you and others can use?  Well, this is your chance to be a trend-setter. Do your peers, your manager and your team the favor of making every meeting valuable to them.

Let me know how it works for you!