Key Takeaways:
Last week, my facilities assistant and I had our monthly one-on-one while walking the perimeter of our building instead of sitting in my office. We discussed his professional development goals, checked all our IDF rooms and brainstormed a conversion of an executive office for a potential game room all while getting our steps in and avoiding the fluorescent lighting of our conference rooms.
Walking meetings have transformed how my facilities team collaborates. Not every meeting works this way, but the ones that do generate better ideas, stronger relationships, and honestly, better health for all of us than anything we've accomplished sitting around tables.
After years in facilities management, I've sat through many meetings and here's what I've learned that when you move your body, you move your thinking. Conference rooms make us formal, cautious, and weirdly focused on who's talking rather than what we're solving. Walking side by side changes the dynamic entirely. I noticed we become collaborators on a journey, not opponents across a table.
I started experimenting with walking meetings while conducting my daily team huddles, partly to diversify the way we collaborated and to always ensure the physical environment is getting the daily attention it needs. Then I thought, why not apply that movement thinking connection to team meetings?
The results surprised me. My normally quiet technician who rarely speaks up in group settings? He opens up during walking meetings. Complex problems that stall in traditional meetings? They unstick when we're moving. Many a times we resolve issues on the spot that had it not been seen right away would have delayed and festered.
In researching how movement helps I learned that there's actual science behind this. Physical movement increases blood flow to the brain, which improves creative thinking and problem solving. Walking reduces the social anxiety some people feel in formal meeting settings. Conversations side by side feel less confrontational than face to face discussions across tables.
I use walking meetings strategically. They work beautifully for one on ones, brainstorming sessions, relationship building conversations and problem solving discussions that don't require documents or screens.
For my facilities team, walking meetings have become our preferred format for project planning.
Being physically in the spaces we were planning to transform generated ideas that never would have come about from conference room meetings. We could point, gesture, visualize, and experience the actual environment we were designing changes for.
Walking meetings also democratize participation. In conference rooms, hierarchy shows up in seating arrangements and speaking patterns. On walks, we're all just people moving together. A newer team member may feel comfortable sharing ideas while walking that she might hesitate to voice in formal settings. That's valuable perspective I'd lose if we stayed seated.
The hybrid work environment has made walking meetings even more strategic. When my team is on site, I want to maximize our face time for relationship building and collaboration, not just transactional information exchange that could happen over Zoom. Walking together creates connections that video calls can't replicate.
I've also noticed walking meetings improve team health and morale. Intentional movement during work hours helps counter that. My team appreciates meetings that don't add to our sitting time and actually make us feel better physically.
I have learned some practical tips on how to maximize walking facilities meetings. Firstly, keep walking groups small, three to four people maximum. Plan routes that accommodate different fitness levels and mobility needs. Bring phones for note taking, not laptops. Save detailed agendas for seated meetings. And always have a conference room backup plan for weather or topics that need privacy.
Not every organization will embrace walking meetings immediately. Some leaders think meetings require tables and chairs to be legitimate. But I'd argue that the best meetings are the ones that generate results, build relationships and respect people's time and wellbeing. Walking meetings deliver on all three.
So next time you're scheduling a team meeting, ask yourself, does this really need a conference room? Or could we solve it better while moving? Your team's creativity, health and collaboration might improve simply by changing your location from seated to walking.
Conference rooms will always have their place. But some of our best work happens when we leave them behind and take our conversations outside, moving forward together.
Maria Ruiz is a Facilities Operations Manager at UNICEF USA with 15+ years of cross-sector expertise. Overseeing multiple national offices, she applies Lean Six Sigma methodologies to create sustainable, efficient workspaces supporting humanitarian missions. Her writing champions women in facilities management by blending technical knowledge with practical insights that empower professionals in this traditionally male-dominated field.
