Meetings that “Move”: Using Movement to Increase Productivity
Movement plays a vital role in our ability to participate in meetings and can be integrated in various ways with varying levels of activity.
Sometimes, something as simple as changing locations or working on a flipchart on a wall instead of sitting at a table can be enough movement to have positive results.
Research shows that movement promotes the creation of new brain cells (Greenough & Anderson, 1991) and that exercise improves students’ classroom behavior (Dwyer et al., 2001). Cortisol, a stress hormone, is lowered by exercise, allowing for clearer thinking, especially in challenging situations (Harvard, 2020). Applied to meetings, higher brain function, better behavior and lower stress allow people to perform well under pressure, make better decisions and work better with others.
When deciding how to bring movement into a meeting, it is important to consider the dynamics of the team or organization and what they are ready for.
“Recently, I was supporting a conference, where someone on the facilitation team told me they were going to do a Conga line after lunch,” said Lauren Green, our Executive Director and Lead Facilitator. “I asked them the purpose, and they said it was to raise the energy after lunch. The goal was great, but raising the energy through dance is not something everyone is open to. I explained that psychological safety is important when inviting people to dance and asked if they thought the group had enough trust and psychological safety to do this activity, to which they said no. In its place, I suggested a movement-based activity, rather than dance, might be more appropriate and better at achieving their goal of raising the energy.”
The simplest and easiest way to bring more movement into meetings is to allot time for breaks to move around and refresh. Breaks alone allow participants to renew their energy and refocus their brains without changing the content of the meeting or pushing a boundary for those less comfortable with movement. We recommend giving participants a 10-15 minute break every hour and a half to two hours for in-person meetings and at least five minutes every hour for online meetings.
Movement Energizers for Meetings
Energizers are one of the most effective ways to get people moving without pushing them too far from their comfort zone. Energizers should always serve a purpose, and that purpose should be communicated and understood by the group to have the most benefit.
The purpose of an energizer can vary depending on the session's goals or what the group needs to work together productively. The most common reasons to include energizers are to activate and energize people's minds or slow things down and increase focus.
When deciding what type of movement energizer to use in a meeting, it is essential to consider the level of trust amongst the group members and their physical capabilities.
The more trust a group shares, the more likely they are to feel comfortable moving during a meeting.
In groups with no or low trust, stick to simple movements that people do every day, such as standing, walking or clapping.
In groups with more trust, you may consider stretching, yoga or more intentional movement.
Save “out of the box” movements, like the Conga line, for groups with high levels of trust or who have been working together for an extended period.
For more learning on the importance of trust in group dynamics, check out our blog on understanding conflict.
Not everyone has the same facility to move their bodies. When working with groups where there is someone with a physical limitation, make sure to use energizers that are inclusive of everyone in the group. This may mean not doing certain energizers or adjusting them to make them accessible for the level of movement participants can do.
Below are a few of our favorite movement energizers, roughly organized from those requiring the least to the most vulnerability. For more, check out our blog on 5 Favorite Virtual Energizers.
Stand Up When You’re Done
PURPOSE: Signal completion and friendly competition
TIMING: 0 mins
SOURCE: National Network of Public Health Institutes
For in-person meetings where people are working individually or in small groups, instruct the group to stand when they finish rather than raising their hand or calling out. This creates a friendly competition in the room to be the first one standing, or at least not the last. Due to the simplicity, this is great for groups with lower levels of trust to get them moving without even realizing it.
Hand Breathing
PURPOSE: Calm and focus
TIMING: 3-5 minutes
SOURCE: Learned from a colleague in a coaching workshop
Made for online meetings but doable in person, Hand Breathing involves holding one or both hands out in front of you with your fingers closed. As you inhale, open your hands, and as you exhale, close your hands. After a few rounds, instruct the group to pick another person they can see (note—everyone’s camera must be on) and try to match their inhales and exhales. Once they’ve done that, invite the group to try to match as a full group, opening and closing their hands simultaneously.
The entire exercise takes three to five minutes and is a great way to calm and focus the group. This can be tied into a lesson or activity about tuning into the group's needs and noticing and paying attention to what others are doing.
Clap Stomp Shake
PURPOSE: Lift the energy and practice communication
TIMING: 5-10 minutes
SOURCE: Ann Padley
Best done in-person but possible online, Clap Stomp Shake starts with two people standing facing each other. One person says the word “one,” the next person says “two,” the first person says “three,” and they continue alternating counting one to three.
After a few rotations, instruct the group to replace saying the word “one” with a clap. After a few rotations of this, instruct the group to replace saying the word “two” with a stomp. Let the group continue a few more rotations before replacing the word “three” with a shake of a limb or body shimmy.
This energizer can be used to lift the group’s energy or tied into a lesson on communication.
Leaning Left and Right
PURPOSE: Get present
TIMING: 2-10 minutes
SOURCE: Learned in a meditation class
This energizer can be done online or in person but requires the ability to stand or lean side-to-side while sitting. Instruct participants to lean to the left, but not so far that they lose their balance.
As they lean to the left, ask them to think about where they were a year ago. You may ask, “What did you hear? What did you see? What were you doing? Who was in your life at that time?” Give the group 10 to 20 seconds to think about it.
Then, instruct participants to lean to the right and ask them to think about where they would like to be in the future, one year from now. You may ask, “What do you hear? What do you see? What are you doing? Who is in your life at this time?” Once again, give the group 10 to 20 seconds to reflect.
Repeat the same pattern left and right, each time with a shorter duration; for example, where they were one month ago and where they will be one month from now. Depending on how much time you have, gradually shorten the intervals to slowly bring people into the present and ask, “Where are you right now? What do you hear? What do you see? What are you doing? Who is around you?” And perhaps invite participants to set a personal intention for the meeting or training.
You can modify these intervals as long or as short as you want, from as long as ten years to as short a minute. This is a great energizer for strategic planning meetings or any meeting where you think from past to future and want people to start in the moment.
Walk With Me
PURPOSE: Get to know each other
TIMING: 5-30 minutes
SOURCE: Aneta Key
In an in-person meeting, instruct the group to stand. You need a relatively large space for this, or you can move outside, weather permitting. Pre-prepare prompts to ask the group that aligns with your agenda, from simple to more complex prompts. A simple prompt may be “I like chocolate,” while a complex prompt may be, “I believe that this organization is on a great path.”
Ask the group to “walk with you” if they agree with the prompt, and once the group has moved, prompt them to have a short conversation about why they have that opinion and share it with the group. Then, ask those who did not walk to share their views.
For online meetings, this energizer can be done using a virtual whiteboard tool such as MURAL and having participants “travel” to different parts of the board.
This energizer can be used for various purposes, including getting to know each other, building rapport, finding common ground or starting conversations around topics relevant to the purpose of the meeting.
Moving Hello
PURPOSE: Meet and greet, inclusivity, working in complexity
TIMING: 10-30 minutes
SOURCE: Kelly King
Designed to be done at the beginning of an in-person meeting, Moving Hello starts with everyone standing in a circle. One person walks to someone else in the circle, introduces themself and shakes that person’s hand. Depending on the group (and current COVID-19 recommendations), the handshake can be swapped for an elbow bump, fist bump, wave or another lower-contact movement.
The two people switch places, and the new person (now inside the circle) walks to someone else in the circle. This continues until everyone in the group has gone. There is an inherent lesson about being mindful of those who have not yet participated.
You can stop here or continue by increasing the complexity. You could tell the group that anytime you tap them on their shoulder, you can start walking to someone else in the circle. When multiple people walk inside the circle simultaneously, it forces people to navigate in chaos. Alternatively, you can tell the group to do the activity without using any words. With a super comfortable group, turn on music and invite them to dance through the circle.
Reflection is Key
In order to make an energizer not “just another icebreaker,” it is important to reflect on the activity with the group, using questions such as:
What was that like?
What did you notice about yourself? About others?
What surprised you?
What did you learn from that?
How would you like to use this today or in the next activity?
Be sure to connect the energizer to the topic and/or outcome of the session:
“Thank you for participating in that short energizer. The purpose of that activity was to… When thinking about [TOPIC WE’RE GOING TO DISCUSS TODAY], bring with you [SOMETHING THEY EXPERIENCED IN THE ENERGIZER]. Before we move on, are there any other insights from that experience you’d like to share?”
When you activate people’s bodies, they are more energized, their brains are more active and they make better decisions, which ultimately increases the success and outputs of your meeting.
Do you have a favorite movement energizer we missed? Comment or share it in our Facebook Community with #movementenergizers.
Dwyer, T., Sallis, J. F., Blizzard, L., Lazarus, R., & Dean, K. (2001). Relation of Academic Performance to Physical Activity and Fitness in Children. Pediatric Exercise Science, 13(3), 225–237. https://doi.org/10.1123/pes.13.3.225
Frédéric Laloux. (2016). Reinventing organizations: An illustrated invitation to join the conversation on next-stage organizations. Nelson Parker.
Greenough, W. T., & Anderson, B. J. (1991). Cerebellar Synaptic Plasticity Relation to Learning versus Neural Activity. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 627(1 Activity-Driv), 231–247. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1749-6632.1991.tb25927.x
Harvard Health Publishing. (2020, July 7). Exercising to relax. Harvard Health; Harvard Health. https://www.health.harvard.edu/staying-healthy/exercising-to-relax
