You can get a good mix of health benefits, productivity and plain satisfaction by adopting the simple practice of having meetings and conversations while walking outdoors.
If you're not doing this yet, read on - it's a great life hack!
For years, I've had a practice of having one-on-one meetings while walking outside whenever possible. The cloudy season can be long in the northwest, and so every opportunity to get some sunshine is welcome.
I started doing this regularly when I was working in the SQL Server organization. I would go for long walks around the Microsoft campus with my peers and people reporting to me. I've kept this up in one form or another for over a decade now, adapting to whichever building I'm in and to the seasonal weather.
I've used one-on-ones for all sorts of meetings. It's a good practice to get ideas flowing, and so it works for both design reviews where it's OK to have pauses and think.
It also works for more stream-of-consciousness talks like considering how people are feeling about the project, how satisfied they are with things, or to talk openly about what they want for their own personal development.
I've even done job interviews while walking and talking! This helps candidates relax and get their creativity on when discussing design problems. And it keeps the interviewer sane if there are many back-to-back interviews!
Look, don't take my word for it. Whether it's walk-and-talk or walk-and-think (and they're both related if you're with the right person), Deep Work by Cal Newport generally supports this idea.
There a health benefits of walking in nature if you have that setting, as well. Some of those are on your stress responses - see for example Health Benefits of Walking in Nature.
Beyond just tress, there are also a bunch of benefits to other aspects of your health.
These days when we're all socially isolated, I still hold on to this practice, and rely on technology to get connected. I am fortunate in my circumstances, given the low density of people in the street, my line of work, and the fact it's a generally safe area.
One nice upside is that when you're remote, this works in larger meetings too, as well as with remote team members.
There are some downsides. You don't have a camera feed, and it's messy if you need to look carefully at documents on a small phone screen. But it works well for meetings with no content presentation or where it's just some simple slides. Texting is also a bit of a mess if there's a side channel, as phones don't have a good split view at the moment.
Two other tricks:
My own experience bears out that walking is good for thinking too. This has worked well for example when working on how to design something, or to consider different ways of communicating something so it's clear for a specific audience.
I've tried doing design walks as well, but I try to keep those close to my working place, as often I get a good idea and then want to start working on it quickly, before I lose any of it.
Enjoy walking!
Tags: management meditation