Who would have foreseen that the difference between a good and a bad business meeting could lie in whether you were all sitting or standing. But actually it shouldn’t be surprising, if not just for the change in blood flow which aids thinking, then for the change in body language.

Researchers, who were themselves curious about their own working spaces, decided to compare the meetings in which people either sat or stood for the duration.

Compared to sit down meetings, stand up meetings were deemed more successful, with people being less protective over their thoughts and more willing to share ideas, which of course naturally resulted in better quality work outputs. In some sense, it made the meetings more creative and friendly, rather than a typical battle ground.

Sit down meetings have become all too common because of the way architecture first evolved, with big offices, meeting rooms, and board room tables on the agenda. But now, with the rise of creative architects taking on board the findings of business psychology, we’re seeing more open plan work spaces, with no such thing as walls and doors. This could make the implementation of stand-up meetings the next ‘norm’ with groups gathering around in circles anywhere in the building instead of all retreating to the ‘meeting room of doom’.

Faye Prior (Researcher)

Source

http://news.wustl.edu/news/Pages/27031.aspx