Standing for teamwork

We’ve all been in workplace meetings. Everyone piles in at the allotted time, some carrying a coffee to sustain them, others with chocolate secreted about their person. Usually there are pads, pens, or electronic equivalents carried to indicate serious intent and that note taking will take place. So fully equipped everyone settles into their allotted chairs and the meeting begins. That’s all fine, except that a new study has shown you would be better off standing if you want the best results from your meeting.

The study asked people to work together in teams to generate a recruitment video. Some teams were put into rooms with a table surrounded by chairs while others were put into rooms that contained only a table. As they worked research assistants watched them to rate how well they worked together and then rated the quality of the videos produced. The subjects themselves rated how territorial the other team members were in the group process. To give an objective measurement the researchers also measured arousal of individuals by using sensors around the wrist to measure skin conductivity, an accepted indicator of physiological arousal.

The results showed that people in teams who were standing showed greater physiological arousal and less territoriality about ideas compared to those who were sitting. People who were standing were more aroused and less protective of their ideas leading to more information sharing and higher quality output as a result.

So while a nice chair might make you comfortable for a lengthy meeting it might be that it also puts you into a comfort zone where you don’t give of your best. Why not give up your comfy seats and stand during your next meeting, after all, you have to stand for something.