Kate's Voice

Today I was reminded of the importance of intention in communication.  I was in a meeting and the meeting got off track when one of the participants moved us away from our intention and onto a whole new focus.  In the end, everyone felt that the meeting was a waste of time and that we did not accomplish anything.  This was particularly frustrating because we are all very busy and did not really have the time to waste!

I have found that I can avoid such situations myself if I set my intention for a conversation or a meeting.  There are many possible intentions and sometimes I have to take a moment to figure out what my real intention is. What I do is this:

1. Ask myself what I hope to accomplish.
2. Plan the discussion with the desired results in mind.
3. I state my intention to the group or conversation partner.
4. Ask the others to state their intentions or desires for the discussion.
5. Write the intention(s) down and keep them in view throughout the discussion so that you can stay “on intention.”

Finally, if my/our intentions change for some reason, I state the change and then do my best to stay “on intention” with the new intention.

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