Power in the Meeting Room: Psychology of Seating Positions
Do you understand the impact of seating positions on power in the meeting room? If you don’t, this video explains the Psychology of Seating Positions.
And don’t worry if your meeting table is long and oblong, oval, or circular. Whichever it is, we have all the seating positions covered. I’ll explain the psychology of where people sit and the power those positions give, from first principles. You’ll learn where:
– the power players sit (the Apex Player)
– their supporters sit
– the antagonists and their supporters sit
– other, general contributors, sit, and
– the supporting players sit
Watching this Video is worth 2 Management Courses CPD Points*.
(See below for more details)
This video is part of course module number 2.3.1
Program 2: The Manager as Communicator
Course 3: Meetings
Section 1: Attending Meetings
Other Useful Meeting Skills videos include:
– Preparing to Attend a Meeting https://youtu.be/W8caX5tPFLA
– Making an Effective Contribution https://youtu.be/VPhN3R4kOlY
– Structured Response Formats https://youtu.be/SB23yRpGFkE
– Project Presence and Authority https://youtu.be/OPcWMPSA02Y
– Using a Flip Chart https://youtu.be/6Nx9Rqgo_Bs
– Using Projector and Slides Effectively https://youtu.be/fgrD7yTCMcU
– Seating Psychology in One-on-One Meetings https://youtu.be/bh_R7z8uquA
LESSON NOTES
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The five power positions around a meeting table, that each have different levels of power in the meeting room are dictated by some simple psychology. There are five basic seating positions:
1. The Power position – where the Apex Player sits
2. The Primary and Secondary positions, where the Apex Player’s main supporters sit
3. The Tertiary positions where the bulk of the contributors sit
4. The Antagonist Positon where the people who oppose the Apex Player sit
5. The Supporting positions, where ‘non-playing’ attendees sit
RECOMMENDED EXERCISE
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1. Think about where different people sit in each of the regular meetings you attend. What does your experience plus the content of this video tell you about the power dynamic? Are there any surprises? (2 MC CPD Points)
2. For your next two meetings, prepare by thinking about where you want to sit. Make a choice that will allow you to best play the part you choose to play. (2×1 MC CPD Points)
3. After each of those two meetings, reflect on the impact your seating position had. And did you choose somewhere new? If so, what impact did it have on other people’s positions? (2×1 MC CPD Points)
DOWNLOADS
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Free Resources
– CPD Tools – https://gum.co/MC-CPD
Paid resources
– Management Courses Onboarding Kit – https://gum.co/MC-ObK ($3)
RECOMMENDED READING
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– How to Speak so People Listen https://geni.us/HSPL
And…
Watch a load of TED talks to see how different people do it, at https://ted.com
Management Courses Continuing Professional Development (CPD) Points
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You can record your Management Courses CPD points on our free, downloadable CPD record log.
Download it here: https://gum.co/MC-CPD
Each video has two levels of MC CPD points. For this video:
– If you simply watched the video, record 2 MC CPD points
– If you also carried out all of the recommended exercises, score a total of 8 MC CPD points
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