It feels like people are intentionally trying to wreck your meetings. And, they’re so good at it, it seems like they’re following a “Sabotage Field Manual”.

The truth is they actually might be.

I’ll explain why I say that later in this post.

But, first let’s take a look at 5 common sabotage tactics and how to protect your meeting and your team from these destructive techniques.

I’ve seen all of these tactics being used in the thousands of meetings I’ve led or attended, but this first one may be the most common.

And the most frustrating.

1. Dominate the conversation

If you want to derail a meeting do these 4 things.

1. Make “speeches.”
2. Talk as frequently and as long as possible during a meeting.
3. Illustrate your “points” using long anecdotes and accounts of personal experiences.
4. Never hesitate to make a few appropriate “rah rah” comments referencing the company mission and vision.

How to protect your meeting from this sabotage tactic

Interrupt. Politely of course.

You’re the meeting leader, take control.

Be aware of the danger of a rambler in a meeting and jump in early before they get momentum.

A long-winded person in a meeting can suck up all the time you have to do important work.

Be assertive and protect your meeting from this common sabotage technique.

These resources will ensure you’re ready and equipped.

How To Stop Someone From Rambling So They Can Be Heard (Blog post)

How To Protect Your Meeting From A Rambler (Podcast)

2. Bring up and question decisions that were already made

If you want to waste time during a meeting, don’t take time to think about whether a decision was already made.

Just bring it up as a question.

Or, if you do remember the decision and didn’t agree with it, bring it up again.

Most meeting leaders won’t have any documentation to prove you wrong.

And, you’ll be able to start the same arguments all over again.

Before you know it, the meeting you’re in will be full blown chaos.

How to protect your meeting from this sabotage tactic

As the meeting leader you DO NOT want this to happen to you.

To protect your meeting and yourself, take these precautions.

• Keep a list of decisions made in previous meetings. (Keeping meeting minutes in a shared location works great.)
• Document the decisions made during your meetings.
• Drive for decisions as you lead your meetings.
• Restate each decision and confirm agreement.
• Put decisions in writing.

If at all possible, designate an official note taker for you meetings.

This is a critical, important role with tremendous power.

Choose the note taker for your meetings carefully and make sure they are equipped to do this important job using these resources.

How To Unlock The Power To Lead In A Role You Probably Don’t Like (Blog post)

How To Lead A Meeting In A Way Most People Won’t Try (Podcast)

3. Point out irrelevant details

Here’s one of my least favorite examples of this tactic.

It’s the beginning of the new year and you’re sharing a report during a meeting.

 The date says “January 2022”.

But, it’s January 2023.

Everyone knows it’s a typo.

But someone just can’t hold their tongue.

They’ve got to stop the meeting and point out the inaccurate year on the slide.

Seriously?

A few seconds are wasted. Or more likely, a few minutes are blown with the follow up comments from the crowd.

Or, even worse, you get triggered and make a snappy emotional response.

Your highly efficient meeting just lost its momentum and its productivity.

How to protect your meeting from this sabotage tactic

Take the time to proofread your material.

Catch all the typos you can.

You won’t find everything so be ready to quickly accept the low-value comment and keep the meeting moving.

Don’t get caught up in spending time on things that don’t matter.

4. Haggle over precise wording

If you don’t want to do meaningful work during a meeting and accomplish the purpose of the meeting, use this trick.

Everyone knows words matter.

We need to be careful with the words we choose and use the exact right terms.

Sounds like the approach a perfectionist would take, doesn’t it?

And, perfectionists (myself include) can waste an incredible amount of time trying to decide on something that doesn’t really matter.

Like the precise wording being used during a meeting.

So, fuel the perfectionist tendencies of the people in meetings with you.

Start the debate on whether there’s a better way to word something.

How it’s described is good. Good enough in fact.

But, couldn’t it be better? A bit more accurate. More precise?

You’ll have everyone jumping in and adding their two cents.

Those cents will quickly turn into hundreds of dollars in time wasted during the meeting.

How to protect your meeting from this sabotage tactic

Don’t take the bait.

Keep the focus on what is truly important.

If the details being challenged are relevant and important, keep the discussion going.

If they’re not, agree to whatever wording is good enough to stop the debate.

Remember the purpose of your meeting and do what you need to do to accomplish that purpose.

5. Advocate caution

Countless meetings that could have been productive and effective have been wrecked by unfounded fretting and time-wasting worrying.

Often unintentionally (I’m assuming positive intent) someone in a meeting will set off a nearly uncontrollable dialogue on the concerns about a project.

Without data, nervous team members will point out all that MIGHT go wrong and uninformed leaders will feed the frenzy as your meeting time slips away.

Because no one wants to make a mistake and look bad, the advice to “be cautious” is welcomed.

No decisions are made or actions taken except to recommend meeting again to discuss the risks and issues further.

Your meeting time is wasted by those who lack courage and advocate an unnecessary level of caution.

How to protect your meeting from this sabotage tactic

Being prudent is wise, but leaders must make decisions and take action when there are risks.

To protect your meetings from those who introduce fear and worry not based on reality, you must communicate risks and issues clearly and concisely.

Every project involves uncertainty and risk. Things go wrong and you will have issues to deal with.

When that happens follow these steps.

1. Disclose significant risks early to your leadership team. Bad news doesn’t age well.

2. Develop and present correction plans (with actions and owners) for each significant issue.

2. Monitor risks and severity levels. Have mitigation plans to prevent them from becoming issues.

3. Clearly communicate the support your team needs to address all issues and risks to your project.

By following these steps during your meetings, you’re demonstrating you are in control of the situation.

The Project Review Scorecard Toolkit includes proven scorecards that make is easy to protect your meetings from those who like to fret and worry.

You’ll keep your meetings focused and get the support your team needs to address the actual issues you’re dealing with.

Get the Project Review Scorecard Toolkit now (CLICK HERE).

Protect your meeting from these 5 sabotage tactics

When you’re leading meetings watch out for these 5 sabotage tactics and be ready to take countermeasures against them.

1. Dominate the conversation

2. Bring up and question decisions that were already made

3. Point out irrelevant details

4. Haggle over precise wording

5. Advocate caution

I told you earlier I would explain why I said someone might be following some sort of sabotage manual to wreck your meetings.

Here’s why I said that.

A Simple Sabotage Field Manual for Meetings and Much More

These 5 sabotage tips, which likely sound too familiar based on your experience leading meetings, were taken from a document entitled “Simple Sabotage Field Manual”.

According to the Homeland Security Digital Library website where you can download the full document:

“This historical document was originally published by the United States Office of Strategic Services (OSS; now the Central Intelligence Agency) in 1944, for use by OSS agents in motivating or recruiting potential foreign saboteurs.”

The same sabotage tactics that were effective decades ago during times of war are equally destructive in today’s business world.

So, be sure to watch for them and take action to protect your meetings from being sabotaged!

Click here to learn more about me

Here are 3 ways I can help you when you’re ready:

1. Get more free resources you can use today (Click here to Start)
2. Improve on your own with digital courses (Click here to Improve)
3. Accelerate your progress with coaching (Click here to Accelerate)

New To My Content?

Check out M4 – the Monday Morning Meeting Minute to make the meetings in your business better every week.

Want To Help Others?

If this article helped you, it will probably help someone else too. Please share it with your connections to fuel the global movement to Stop Bad Meetings!

The post How To Protect Your Meeting From Being Sabotaged appeared first on Greg Harrod.

Because if you wait for January, you’ll be too late and miss out on some rare opportunities.

Here are 5 simple steps you should take to prepare for next year’s meetings while you still can.

1. Grab open calendar time

This tip is first because it’s the most important.

Most people don’t do what you’re doing. They wait until January to schedule meetings.

That means you have a limited window to grab open time for the people you need to meet with regularly.

But don’t wait.

If you start scheduling your meetings in January, you’ll be one of countless coworkers watching open calendars fill up and your chances to meet with critical partners disappear.

How this helps you prepare for next year’s meetings

You know how hard it is to find open time for your recurring meetings.

Regular meetings with your manager and your direct reports are essential for you and your team members.

Standing meetings for your project teams are also critical for project success.

And, don’t forget communications meetings for your organization.

So, before the year ends get these meetings scheduled for the entire year. Along with any other recurring meetings you can think of.

Don’t worry if you have to adjust the time, participants, and details later – meeting invitations are made to be revised!

The most important thing you need to do to prepare for next year’s meetings is to secure the time on people’s calendars now!

Here a few ideas of typical recurring meetings to help you think of your own you need to get scheduled.

• Team meetings with your staff
• Project working team meetings
• Town Hall or “all hands” meetings
• Quarterly steering committee meetings
• One-on-one meetings with your manager
• One-on-one meetings with your direct reports
• Program or project report out meetings with leadership
• Regular meetings with your mentee, mentor, and sponsor
• Intentional “check ins” with teammates who need your support
• Skip level meetings with those who report to your direct reports

2. Cancel and decline meetings

You lead effective, productive meetings – meetings people actually WANT to attend.

And, in Step 1 you added a bunch of outstanding meetings to your coworkers’ calendars.

But, no one wants too many meetings. Even excellent meetings!

You need time to do individual deep work and your teammates do too.

The end of the year provides the perfect opportunity to control what you can control.

You control the meetings you schedule and your RSVP to the meetings you’ve been invited to attend.

Exercise the power you have to prepare for next year’s meetings.

How this helps you prepare for next year’s meetings

Because it’s the end of the year, it’s much easier to skim your calendar and see all the meetings on your calendar.

Evaluate your meetings using two categories:

1. Meetings you’ve scheduled
2. Meetings you’ve been invited to attend

Meetings you’ve scheduled

This is your opportunity to be a hero to your coworkers!

Get unnecessary meetings off their schedules and declutter their calendars.

Here are some easy places to start.

• Meetings that fall on a holiday – Your team meeting is good, but no one is going to skip Thanksgiving dinner to be there.
• Meetings that can occur less often – You needed to meet weekly with the Safety Committee initially. Now monthly is more appropriate.
• Meetings that are no longer needed – A standing meeting that used to add value no longer does. Cancel it.
• Meetings beyond the original end date – You thought the project would take 5 months, but you’ll be done in 3. Change the meeting series end date.
• Meetings you’re allowing to linger – You need to get a different mentor. Decide when you’re going to make the change and cancel meetings with your current mentor after that date.

Meetings you’ve been invited to attend

You work hard to add value to every meeting you attend. And, you almost always do.

That’s why you get invited to SO MANY meetings.

But, you only have so much time in your week and you can’t attend every meeting you’re invited to.

As you prepare for next year’s meetings, do an honest evaluation.

Do you REALLY need to attend all the meetings you’ve accepted?

Is it possible your ego might be leading you astray?

Could you delegate and trust someone on your team to represent you and your department?

Meetings provide unique opportunities for your team members with less experience to build their confidence and their careers.

Forward a meeting or two and RSVP with a Decline providing an explanation to the meeting owner.

You’ll be building your team and freeing up time for the work only you can do.

3. Scrub your invitee lists

Step 2 put you in the mindset to evaluate your own meeting participation. Now apply that thinking to those you’ve invited to participate in the meetings you own.

The second P of the 3Ps for productive, effective meetings is People (click here or on the image below to get the free 3Ps worksheet).

Purpose – Why is this meeting being held?

People – Who needs to be in this meeting to accomplish the Purpose?

Preparation – What work needs to be done prior to the meeting to enable the People to accomplish the Purpose?

As you prepare for next year’s meetings, invest time considering who the right people are to participate in the meetings you’ve scheduled.

How this helps you prepare for next year’s meetings

You develop habits when inviting people to meetings.

For the same reasons others seem to invite you to nearly every meeting in your business, you may tend to invite the same highly engaged, deeply knowledgeable leaders to your meetings too.

You want to involve the seasoned veterans who know how to get things done.

But watch out for the trap of inviting only the typical voices to join your meetings.

While you’re taking time to prepare for next year’s meetings, take action to prepare next year’s team.

Invite new participants with fresh, diverse perspectives. Welcome in those with experience outside the company to learn from them.

And, as you’re scrubbing your meeting invitee list, check to ensure you’ve adjusted for organizational changes.

You don’t want to invite a former department leader who’s moved into a new role and miss including their successor.

I’ve learned that lesson the hard way!

You can avoid another goof I’ve made by taking Step 4.

4. Check meeting series end dates

Has this ever happened to you?

The new year has started and you’re looking forward to your weekly meeting with your project team.

You’ve met together every Thursday morning from 10:00 to 10:50 for months and you’re excited to keep the momentum going in January.

It’s Monday morning and you’re getting ready for your first Thursday morning meeting of the year.

Then you realize there is no Thursday morning meeting this week. Or any week of the new year!

Your recurring meeting series ended on the last Thursday of last year.

So you hit your knees praying no one has applied Step 1 and taken your spot on your team members’ calendars.

If they have, your routine is shot and your momentum is gone.

Don’t let this happen to you (like it’s happened to me)!

How this helps you prepare for next year’s meetings

Step 4 is a simple check you do as you prepare for next year’s meetings so you can avoid that panicky feeling and all the hassle of trying to find a different time your project team can meet.

Before you wrap up the year, review all your recurring meetings from last year – check and adjust the end date of every meeting series as appropriate.

If you need to keep meeting with a team or a person, make sure the series extends into the new year. If you don’t, set the series end date no later than December 31.

While you have your meeting invitations open, take Step 5.

5. Learn from last year’s meetings

The end of the year is a good time to look back and assess your meetings.

You’ve likely led and attended more meetings during the year than you can remember.

The number of lessons to be learned exceeds the numbers of meetings you’ve been in.

But those lessons will also slip away as vanishing, useless memories if you don’t take time to reflect and document how to improve.

Take time to do a simple Lessons Learned activity for your meetings from last year.

How this helps you prepare for next year’s meetings

This exercise is particularly useful for recurring meetings you’ll continue into the next year because you can directly apply what you learn to make improvements.

Pick a few meetings that are most important to your business.

Then ask yourself (and, ideally, those who participated in the meetings) questions like these.

10 Questions to Consider – Capturing Lessons Learned from Last Year’s Meetings

These 10 questions will help you and your team identify meaningful specifics about your meetings so you can improve in the new year.

• What can be done better next time?
• What aspects of the meeting went well?
• What aspects of the meeting did not go well?
• What did our internal customers say about this meeting?
• What did our external customers say about this meeting?
• What would we definitely do again for a meeting like this?
• What would we definitely NOT do again for a meeting like this?
• What helped us accomplish the meeting Purpose and objectives?
• What hindered us from accomplishing the meeting Purpose and objectives?
• What would we do differently if we could start this series of meetings over now?

Talking about lessons from a meeting last year is easier than actually learning the lessons.

Use this process to turn your observations into real improvements for next year’s meetings.

How to Ensure Lessons Learned Actually Improve Your Meetings

Organize the lessons you captured using the 10 questions above using these five categories.

1. General
2. What Went Well
3. What Did Not Go well
4. What Can Be Done Better Next Time
5. What Our Customers (Internal and External) Said

Record the Contributor of each lesson if you’re working with a group so you can follow up for more information later if needed.

Then do this critical last step.

Write down a corresponding “Recommendations for Future Meetings” for every lesson.

This will force you and your team to focus your energy and attention on how to improve as you prepare for next year’s meetings.

Use this free Lessons Learned worksheet as a guide to complete this powerful exercise. (Click here or on the image.)

Use these 5 simple steps to prepare for next year’s meetings

It’s an opportunity that only comes once a year so make the most of it.

Use these 5 simple steps to prepare for next year’s meetings.

1. Grab open calendar time

2. Cancel and decline meetings

3. Scrub your invitee lists

4. Check meeting series end dates

5. Learn from last year’s meetings

Make them even more productive and effective than the meetings you led this year!

Click here to learn more about me

Here are 3 ways I can help you when you’re ready:

1. Get more free resources you can use today (Click here to Start)
2. Improve on your own with digital courses (Click here to Improve)
3. Accelerate your progress with coaching (Click here to Accelerate)

New To My Content?

Check out M4 – the Monday Morning Meeting Minute to make the meetings in your business better every week.

Want To Help Others?

If this article helped you, it will probably help someone else too. Please share it with your connections to fuel the global movement to Stop Bad Meetings!

The post How To Prepare For Next Year’s Meetings – 5 Simple Steps appeared first on Greg Harrod.

CMD 038: How To Get Started Creating Exceptional Meetings

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How to Write a Professional Email: Make a positive impact with every email you send.

The post CMD 038: How To Get Started Creating Exceptional Meetings appeared first on Greg Harrod.

CMD 035: How To Lead A Meeting In A Way Most People Won’t Try

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CMD 033: How To Create An Exceptional Meeting With 7 Steps

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CMD 030: How To Protect Your Meeting From A Rambler

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If you’re like me, you often find it challenging to keep everyone in a meeting focused on what you’re trying to accomplish.

I’ve found creating structure for the meeting with a simple document helps me lead meetings that participants often appreciate and usually find valuable.

And, I’d like to help you do the same.

In this post, I’ll do two things to help you learn to use structure to effectively lead meetings with your team, too.

We’ll start with the simple, seven step process.

7 steps to use structure to lead an effective meeting

I’ve broken the process I’ve used to lead meetings throughout my career into these seven steps.

I’ve used these seven simple steps to lead thousands of meetings and I’ve found the process to be helpful for me and for those who participated in the meetings I led. I hope you find them useful as well.

First, let’s talk about the initial step in preparing to lead an effective meeting, planning ahead.

1. Plan ahead

While the rest of these steps to lead an effective meeting may be done in a different order, this one must come first. If you want to successfully lead an effective meeting, you must plan ahead.

Unprepared leaders lead painful, ineffective meetings

We’ve all experienced the agony of sitting through a meeting led by someone who is not prepared. When the meeting starts, it quickly becomes obvious the person who brought everyone together doesn’t have a plan.

The conversation drifts all over the place. With the discussion jumping from topic to topic, it’s hard to know when to say something or what to say to add value.

Finally, after what seems like an eternity, the end time of the meeting arrives. But, no one is sure if you’re actually done. Because it wasn’t clear why you were even there in the first place.

Who cares? You’ve got an excuse to leave and you can finally escape. Blessed relief from the pain has arrived.

Am I exaggerating? Not much.

Unplanned, unstructured meetings occur countless times a day in organizations around the world. And, the person leading a meeting like this takes a hit to his or her reputation.

An unprepared leader is to blame

When we’re in a meeting led by an unprepared leader, we easily recognize why the meeting is ineffective. Typically no one says anything, but everyone knows who is responsible.

The unprepared leader is the one to blame. The person who asked everyone to come together for a meeting is responsible.

Scheduling a meeting and not being prepared to lead it effectively is a proven way to quickly lose the respect of your teammates.

Leaders who have not invested time getting ready prior to bringing a team together waste everyone’s time. And, we all know time is a precious resource in every organization.

But, good leaders think differently.

Good leaders view themselves as stewards of their teammates’ time

Throughout my career, I encouraged my teams to have the mindset of a steward when scheduling and leading meetings.

If you’re not familiar with the term, a steward is a person who is entrusted with the responsibility (and privilege) of managing another person’s resources.

This was our perspective.

If we schedule a meeting, we are responsible for planning and leading it to maximize the use of each participant’s time. It is up to each of us, when leading meetings, to ensure that every minute of the meeting is a valuable investment of time for each person there.

I encourage you to take this same approach.

Invest the time to prepare for every meeting

To earn and keep the respect of your teammates, I encourage you to schedule time on your calendar to prepare for every meeting you convene.

It doesn’t have to be a lot of time. Especially once you get the hang of the process I’m going to lay out in these next six steps.

The investment you make prior to the meeting will bring a great return by using your team’s time efficiently and boosting their morale.

So, that wraps up the first, and perhaps the most important, step of this process, planning ahead to prepare for the meeting.

Now let’s move to the second step of the process, creating a document to guide the meeting.

2. Create a document to guide the meeting

Creating a document to use as a guide when you lead a meeting is beneficial and important for three reasons.

What format should I use for the document?

The format you use for the meeting guide document is really up to you. You may like spreadsheets. Or, a word processing tool may be your preference. Any format other than “in my head” can be used. You can even use pen and paper if you like.

The key is to collect and capture your thoughts in a document before the meeting begins.

I love using Microsoft OneNote to document meetings. I’ll be using a OneNote document as an example.

Microsoft OneNote example

To guide our discussion I created this simple meeting guide document in OneNote.

I know it’s hard to read, but don’t worry. I’ll zoom in and highlight specific sections as we discuss them. And, the next section is part of step 3 of our process for using structure to lead an effective meeting.

We’ve got our meeting document ready so let’s use it to capture the meeting topics.

3. Identify the topics

You can see in this example meeting, there are three topics to be covered.

It may seem simplistic and obvious for me to suggest the person leading a meeting needs to state the topics to be covered.

However, in my experience, many leaders are not sure themselves of what needs to be discussed in a meeting until they invest the time to plan and prepare.

This is certainly true for me.

Once you’ve done the work to identify the topics, you can use the meeting guide document to capture and clearly communicate these topics to the meeting participants.

Communicating the topics should be done with two separate and distinct components, a topic label and a topic description.

Label and describe the topics

Create visual separation between the topics

Use numbers and visual elements such as highlighting and horizontal lines to create separation between the topics.

This technique amplifies the power of using the distinct, separated topics to manage the discussions as you lead the meeting.

Add details for each topic

You’ve labeled the topic and described it briefly. Now add the details that are important for this particular meeting.

Include action items and decisions and format the text to ensure they stand out from other meeting notes.

Include space for notes

As I noted earlier and in a previous post, taking notes during a meeting is important. In this meeting guide, create a section for this purpose.

Follow a template

There are many ways to implement these techniques and I recommend you use the methods that work best for you.

Once you settle on a format you like, create a template and use it for efficiency and consistency.

Here’s an example of a template I use regularly. You can see how it brings together the various techniques I described.

Now that you’re clear on the topics and communicated them clearly in your meeting document, you can move to the next step of the process.

Let’s talk about an agenda for the meeting.

4. Budget the time

Every effective meeting needs some sort of agenda. And, an agenda includes at least two things. Topics and time.

By getting clear on the topics including what points need to be discussed, you’ve made the task of creating an agenda much easier.

Review the topics and key points you want to cover and budget out the time you have available. Topics with many items will need more time. Others can be covered quickly. You may also need to lengthen or shorten the duration of the meeting accordingly.

Be disciplined and intentional when budgeting the meeting time.

Don’t make it too long just to fit a calendar suggestion of an hour, for instance. If you have 35 minutes worth of work to do, schedule the meeting to be 35 minutes long.

But, if you find you have too much material to cover in a reasonable amount of time, consider scheduling multiple meetings.

Be sure to leave time at the end of the meeting to review action items and owners. This blog post, Ask “Who Needs to Do What by When?” Drive Results! gives you tips on how to do this.

You now have topics for the meeting and an agenda, you are well prepared to lead the meeting. There are just a few more steps to take.

The next step is to decide who needs to be there.

5. Select the participants

You are now far more prepared than most meeting leaders to determine who needs to be in the meeting you are going to lead.

Many people who schedule meetings don’t think critically about who should attend.

With the meeting structure you’ve designed in your guide document, you can intentionally invite specific team members with clarity and purpose. And, you know how much of their time you are asking them to invest.

As you review your guide, consider who needs to be present to do the work you’ve outlined. Those are the people you should ask to attend. Keep the group at the right number of participants to effectively complete the purpose of the meeting in the time you have allocated.

The most effective meetings include only those who need to be there.

So, you’re done, right? Ready to send out a meeting invitation?

Not quite. There’s one more step.

6. Optimize the meeting structure

This step is one that will allow you to distinguish yourself as a servant leader in your organization. It’s not required, but it will definitely set you apart as a meeting leader.

If you’re made it this far and completed the five previous steps, you’ve done a lot of work to prepare for the meeting you are going to lead. In fact, you’ve already done far more than the majority of people who schedule and lead meetings.

But, I would encourage you to invest just a little more time for your own benefit and the benefit of those who will attend your meeting.

Here’s what I recommend.

Take a moment to visualize yourself leading the meeting you have designed. Walk through it in your mind. And, honestly consider how it’s really going to go once you and your teammates are in the room or online.

Ask yourself these five questions.

After answering these questions, you may be satisfied and ready to take the next step. Or, you may want to tweak your meeting document slightly.

If you want to make changes, repeat the previous steps until you’re confident to proceed.

Then, take the final step.

7. Share the meeting document

I realize I didn’t highlight an obvious step. As the meeting leader you need to schedule the meeting and invite participants to attend.

When you sent a meeting invitation, I encourage you to include the meeting document you created. This lets people know what to expect and prepare so they can engage and contribute.

Many leaders of meetings don’t take this step. Often it’s because they don’t prepare prior to the meeting. And, sometimes, it’s because the don’t want to relinquish control and be transparent with their plan for the meeting. Be aware of these common barriers and work to overcome them.

This is the seventh and final step to use structure to lead an effective meetings.

In the introduction, I promised to not only give you a process to follow. I also told you I would explain why structure makes a meeting more effective. So, let’s move to that topic now.

Why structure makes a meeting more effective

As I’ve explained, I have used this structure I’ve described and the meeting guide document to lead thousands of meetings. So, I know it works.

In addition, I have learned recently from two leadership experts some of the reasons why structure is so effective when used to lead meetings.

The first expert is someone I quote often in my posts.

A structured meeting shows your teammates the future

In a previous post, “Are You Above Or Below The Line? How To Know And What To Do About It.” I shared wisdom from Michael Bungay Stanier’s book, “The Advice Trap: Be Humble, Stay Curious, & Change the Way You Lead Forever.”

I shared his TERA technique to create a more psychologically safe space for our teams and keep them engaged.

Meeting structure is a direct application of the E in TERA. The E stands for Expectation as Stanier’s explains in his book.

The meeting structure you create and capture in a document shows your teammates what to expect. This calms their brains by showing them the future.

And, by sharing the meeting guide with them before the meeting, they can not only prepare for the upcoming session, but they will also feel more psychological safe as they anticipate joining together as a team.

Additionally, using the same document during the meeting provides familiarity and consistency which brings further reassurance.

These steps help your teammates engage more deeply and be more creativity.

Structure helps your teammates thrive by providing them with security. And, it does more than that. It helps them understand you better.

A structured meeting helps you make sense to others

When you’re leading a meeting, you definitely want to communicate clearly. You want the people in the meeting to understand what you’re saying.

In other words, you want to make sense to others. That’s the term Tom Henschel of Essential Communications used in a recent podcast episode.

Tom is a veteran executive leadership coach who grooms senior leaders and executive teams. He is an internationally recognized expert in the field of workplace communications. He knows what he’s talking about.

Tom had a conversation with Dave Stachowiak on Dave’s Coaching for Leaders podcast (which I highly recommend). They discussed the common challenge of making sense to others when communicating, including when leading meetings.

Tom explained why using structure when communicating helps both the sender, you in this case as the meeting leader. And, the receiver, those attending your meeting. And, he gives interesting insight into the benefit of clear, precise transitions.

The lessons in this episode are applicable when creating structure for your meetings and for every type of communication. You can access the episode by clicking the image below.

This podcast encouraged me to continue to use structure when leading meetings and incorporate it into other forms of communication as well. I hope it does the same for you.

That completes this section on why structure makes a meeting more effective. So, let’s summarize what we’ve covered in this post.

It’s time to put structure into action as you lead meetings

You’ve now got a seven step process to use structure to lead an effective meeting. And, you know why this structure makes a meeting more effective.

Are you ready to apply these lessons to the next meeting you lead? I encourage you to give it a try.

I’m confident the people who attend the next meeting you lead will recognize and appreciate the benefit of the structure you introduce.

Let’s lead with kindness and confidence.

Greg

Discussion Questions

• How do you introduce structure into the meetings you lead?

• Which of the seven steps listed above do you find most valuable?

I’m curious to learn more about how you prepare for and lead meetings. Please share your tips and tricks and teach me and others what you know.

About the Author – Learn more about Greg

Click here to download the free guide.

How to Write a Professional Email: Make a positive impact with every email you send.

The post How To Use Structure To Effectively Lead Meetings appeared first on Greg Harrod.

There’s one simple thing you can do to make this happen.

But, here’s the bad news.

You probably aren’t going to like it.

At least not until you read the rest of this post that is. Then I think you just might change your mind.

Bad Meetings

Have you ever been in a “bad” meeting whether it’s in person, on the phone, or over video?

Your answer may be something like, “As a matter of fact, I’m in the fourth bad meeting of the day right now. Save me!”

I know there are a million reasons you might describe a meeting as “bad”. I’m sure you have a list.

On the top of that list is probably something like this.

“We talk and we talk. The conversation drifts all over the place then starts to sound just like the discussion we had last week. Then, the meeting time is up and everyone rushes off to their next commitment. And, next week, we’ll have the exact same meeting again.”

Is that a “bad” meeting for you? A familiar meeting?

It certainly is for me.

So, what can you do to stop the waste of your time and your team’s time and avoid the frustration that goes along with it?

Here’s what I recommend.

And, I said above, you may not like what I suggest.

Be the note taker

What’s the secret to leading a meeting when you’re not the meeting leader?

Volunteer to take notes.

See why I said you weren’t going to like it?

Almost no one likes to be the scribe for a meeting, let alone a conference call.

Why is that?

Why we don’t like being the note taker

Well, for starters, you have to pay attention. Not just occasionally. But during the entire meeting.

Who wants to do that?

And, on top of that, you have to make sure you understand what was said so you can translate the myriad of spoken words into a clear, concise record of the discussion.

Don’t forget the gender dynamics that can be involved too.

The pattern of automatically assigning a woman to take notes during a meeting because of gender bias is still far too common in the workplace. This can cause some women to see the role as unimportant and resist volunteering for the task.

I get it. Being the note taker is not a role many team members volunteer for.

In fact, in most meetings no one takes notes.

The meeting leader doesn’t ask or assign someone to do it. And, of course, no one volunteers.

So, nothing is written down during or after the meeting (except a few scribbles and doodle images on your notebook, right?).

How does that typically turn out?

The results of a meeting without a note taker

A meeting without a note taker definitely generate results. Negative results.

Here are a few I can think of. I’m sure you can add more to the list.

Another meeting.

When nothing is recorded from a meeting, the odds are good that you are going to have another meeting. To discuss the same things. With those that were present at the first meeting. And some who weren’t. Who will need everything from the first meeting repeated for them.

I know you’ve been in that meeting.

The chances are also high that no notes will be taken in the second meeting either. So, yet another follow up meeting will be needed.

And the endless cycle of frustrating meetings continues.

Frustration

Meetings where great ideas are discussed but never recorded are frustrating.

They’re frustrating because great ideas captured only in conversations tend to evaporate with time. They drift away without being converted into actions.

Or, an even more frustrating scenario occurs. An idea is shared and it seems great at the time, but in reality it isn’t.

It’s easy to talk and talk and make something sound positive.

It’s only when someone puts those spoken words into print that the flaws in the argument are revealed and the true merit of an idea is seen.

Confusion

When a written record of a meeting is not created, the only documentation are the memories of the participants. And, very often those memories don’t match.

Confusion abounds when each person later remembers a decision or an assigned task differently.

I’ve experienced each one of these negative results of meetings without a note taker. You have too I expect.

If only there was a way to replace these negative results with positive ones.

But, wait. There is a way. It’s a solution we typically resist.

How we can make a bad meeting better

We can be the note taker.

Anyone can do the job if they’re willing. It doesn’t take special skills or unique talents. But it can have a big impact.

Think about the opportunity to lead your team by serving them in this role. This is a perfect example of leading even when we’re not the “leader”.

We can be the one who delivers positive results from what would otherwise be a waste of our team’s time.

I realize it’s natural to resist volunteering for the task of recording the notes from a meeting.

So, to help convince you (and myself) that it’s worth overcoming our hesitancy, let’s consider some of the positive benefits to being the meeting scribe.

These results are positive not only for our team but also for us personally.

The power of the pen (or the keyboard)

As the designated note taker for a meeting, you possess a tremendous amount of power to indirectly lead the meeting. Through this power you can strongly influence your team and your organization.

Here are just a few of the powers you have as the meeting scribe.

The power to lead by staying engaged

I’ll just start with the obvious.

If you’re the note taker, you need to be engaged during the entire meeting.

And, while it may seem attractive to zone out and play on your phone during the boring sections of a meeting, wouldn’t you much rather be actively engaged with the discussion?

Wouldn’t you really prefer to help turn a bad meeting into a good one instead of scrolling through your social media accounts and trying to stay awake?

The power to lead by interrupting

Have you ever been in a meeting and wanted to ask a clarifying question but didn’t feel like it was your place?

As the designated note taker for the meeting, you are authorized to stop the meeting at your discretion so you can do your job effectively.

By volunteering, you have gained a personal power you didn’t have before.

This statement works well for me.

“I apologize for interrupting here, but I need to ask a quick question to make sure I get this right in the notes.”

The power to lead by bringing clarity

I’ve been in countless meetings in which something was said and it just didn’t make any sense to me. And, I found out later, it didn’t make sense to anyone else either.

As the note taker, you can stop the confusing talk when you hear it and ask for clarity that will benefit the entire team.

Just use a statement like this.

“Would you clarify your last statement for me please? I didn’t understand it well enough to accurately record what you said.”

The power to lead by ensuring alignment

During most meetings, things are said and the participants assume everyone else is in agreement. But, this isn’t always true.

When taking notes, you can ensure alignment with this simple question.

“I noted what Judith said, but can I also record that everyone was in agreement? Does anyone disagree or have a different position?”

The power to lead by documenting decisions

We talked earlier about conflicting memories of what was decided during a meeting when no notes are taken. The note taker has the power to capture decisions so this doesn’t happen.

Use this statement to not only document a decision, but to also make sure decisions are being made during meetings.

“I think I just heard a decision in what we discussed. Did we actually decide on that and, if we did, would someone please repeat it for me? I will record it as a decision in the notes.”

The power to lead by ensuring actions are taken

Meetings that don’t result in actions typically aren’t very useful.

As the note taker, you can make every meeting you’re in more valuable by clarifying the specific actions with owners and completion dates. 

See my post Ask “Who Needs to Do What by When?” Drive Results! for more on this topic.

The power to lead by not being perfect

Some people hesitate to be the note taker because they are afraid they will mess up. As a recovering perfectionist, I completely understand.

The truth is, however, when you volunteer to be the note taker when no one else will, your notes are the best in existence. You get the grand prize trophy for best notes of the meeting without a contest.

Everyone knows the value of meeting notes, but no one wants to create them.

You will rarely be criticized as the note taker in a meeting.

This is because everyone else knows you can simply and politely ask them this.

“I know I’m not the best at taking notes, would someone else like to take a turn?”

That question will quickly earn you the support of even your worst critics.

Some post-meeting work is required

I don’t want to mislead you. You will have to do some work that others won’t have to do after the meeting.

You’ll have to clean up your notes and distribute them.

But, I have found the post-meeting work actually benefits me.

I learn more about the topic of the meeting as I finalize my notes. I process more thoroughly what was said and understand it at a deeper level. Or, I realize I need to study something that’s not clear to me.

This note taking activity causes me to grow and develop even after the meeting is over.

Additionally, I often reach out to other team members to make sure I got a note recorded accurately. This solidifies existing relationships with my teammates and builds new connections.

Why not try out this power to lead?

With all these benefits are being the note taker, what are you waiting for?

Try volunteering for this important role and exercising your power to lead the meeting indirectly.

See if you can apply the many powers that come with the role to transform your next bad meeting into one with many positive outcomes.

Let’s lead with kindness and confidence.

Greg

Discussion Questions

• Do you serve as the note taker in your meetings? What positive results have you seen in this role?

• What prevents you from volunteering for the important role of meeting note taker?

I’m interested to hear your comments. Do you consider taking notes during a meeting an important role or is your position different than mine? Please share your experiences in the comments section so we can learn together.

About the Author – Learn more about Greg

Click here to download the free guide.

How to Write a Professional Email: Make a positive impact with every email you send.

The post How To Unlock The Power To Lead In A Role You Probably Don’t Like appeared first on Greg Harrod.

Oh yeah, and a click of your mouse.

Let’s start with a short quiz.

4 questions to see if you’re ready

Please take a few seconds to answer these four questions. And, don’t worry. Tests don’t get much easier than this.

Question 1: Can you smile?

Question 2: Can you nod your head?

Question 3: Are simple phrases like this in your vocabulary?

Question 4: Are you on video conferences often?

Ready for the results?

If you answered Yes to “Are you on video conferences often?” (and who isn’t these days, right?) and Yes to any of the first three questions, I have good news for you.

You have the opportunity to be kind to your teammates and make a big positive difference in their day with a simple act of kindness and leadership.

And, if you answered Yes to all four questions, you may even be overqualified for the job.

Presenting live to an absent audience

Before I give you the super simple secret to being kind with just a smile and a nod, I want you to imagine yourself as the presenter in the image above.

Has that ever been you?

Have you ever presented live to a group of people and had absolutely no response from the audience?

You were talking to them, but you had no feedback to indicate they were hearing what you were saying. No head nodding. No facial expressions. Nothing.

The seats might as well have been empty. Or maybe they were empty.

The audience was definitely absent, if not physically then definitely mentally

I’ve been there and you probably have been too.

Doing a presentation to an absent audience is hard. Really hard. Painful. You can’t wait to be done.

The same scenario in the virtual world

Now, think about the last video conference you were on with a large group and a single person presenting content.

What was your experience?

Did you see the live video of the participants along with the presenter’s video feed?

Or, did you see only the presenter live and a sea of still photo headshots of the participants?

Or maybe just generic placeholder images with the person’s initials. You know the big double T for your teammate Terrence Tidewater. Very personal, right?

Maybe it wasn’t that bad. One person had their camera on. Or maybe even two.

I was on a call like that this morning.

My experience this morning

Let me start by saying this was not a boring video conference call. This one was fantastic.

I was on a diversity and inclusion action committee meeting and the subject was unconscious bias. This was important, relevant material we were all deeply interested in learning.

The presenter was outstanding. She was going through the material with energy and passion.

This young woman was doing a fantastic job of engaging her audience.

What the presenter saw

Then I took a moment to zoom my view out a bit by changing my focus from just her video feed to my entire screen.

I saw what she was seeing. And, it startled me.

Her view was of an audience of still photos and several sterile images with the impersonal first and last initials.

She might as well have been the presenter in the photo above, talking to room full of empty seats and one dude who was barely awake.

What was really going on

The problem was she did not see what was really going on. She did not see her teammates smiling and nodding their heads.

But, that’s exactly what I was doing. In my home office. Where no one, including the presenter, could see me…

And, based on the energy once we started the interactive part of the meeting, all of the other participants were doing the same thing.

It was 6 in the morning for most of us, but we were still leaning forward in our chairs. Our facial expressions mirrored our emotional involvement with the presenter and the topic. We were into it.

But the speaker had no clue that was the case.

To her, we might as well have been dozing off or not even there.

What I did about it

So, here’s what I did. Pay attention to this part. I’ll explain it slowly so you have time to write it down.

Ready? Here goes.

I turned on my camera.

Did you catch that? If not, let me repeat it.

I turned on my camera.

But wait. I didn’t stop there. Listen to this (pun intended).

I unmuted my microphone too.

Wow. Big courageous step, right?

Of course not. How simple is it to turn on my camera and unmute my microphone? It’s easy, right?

Thankfully, several others did the same thing. When we got to the interactive part of the call, nearly everyone was showing their early morning faces.

But, in that brief moment when we were all muted with video and audio, I was reminded of two important acts of kind leadership.

Let yourself be seen

The first act of kind leadership I was reminded of was this. Turn on your camera when you’re on a video conference.

People don’t really care if your home office is a mess or if your hair isn’t perfect (something I haven’t had to worry about for many years).

Your teammates really do want to see your face and your smile during meetings.

Think about it.

Don’t you find video conference calls less boring when the folks on the call have their cameras on? This is an important tip but I will leave a deeper discussion on that topic for another post.

The second and more important act of kind leadership goes beyond just being seen.

We need to be seen being engaged and actively listening.

Be seen being engaged

Turning on your camera isn’t an encouragement to the presenter if you’re not engaged with them. That’s like saying the presenter in the photo is encouraged because he can see the solitary bored guy in the audience.

If our video feed is going to show us looking at our phones (or worse, our empty seat if we’re taking a bio break), we’re not helping the presenter at all. We’re obviously making the situation worse.

But, it’s simple and easy to communicate to the person talking that we are paying attention and we care about what they have to say.

Engagement is communicated through simple body language

I didn’t do the research to include scientific studies on the power of body language. But I could have. We all know how it works.

Even without citing formal research, I’m convinced that the smiling and nodding our group was doing this morning made a positive impact on our teammate who was presenting.

We let her see our reactions to what she said.

We turned on our cameras so she could see us giving her a smile and a nod. She heard us say “That’s a good point.” or “I agree.”

And, it made a difference.

How do I know that if I didn’t confirm with her directly?

I’ve been there and I bet you have too

I know how the presenter felt this morning because I’ve been the one speaking on other video calls.

I’ve seen the list of participants with cameras turned off and it felt like a room full of empty chairs.

My mind started racing out of control as I tried to stay focused.

And on and on. It’s so distracting.

Even though I fight against it, the video silence and lack of feedback, audio or video, attacks my confidence.

But, when even just one person has their camera on, or even if they just unmute their microphone to give me an occasional “Uh huh”, I present better.

I have more confidence in what I’m saying. That’s natural to expect when someone is speaking to a group in person so it makes sense that it would be true when presenting virtually.

What to do

So, I’m going to keep the practical takeaway from this post super simple.

• Turn on your video camera when you’re listening to someone present.
• Smile and nod your head every once in a while.
• Mutter a couple of words now and then.

It’s not hard to do, but when you take these simple actions, you are being kind to your teammate who is presenting. You’re taking care of them and helping make their work easier and more enjoyable.

One more thing. If you’re in the audience of an in-person event, whether it’s a training seminar, a worship service, or a volunteer committee meeting, smile and nod there too. It’s just as effective in person as it is through a computer.

A smile. A nod. Two or three words.

Leading with kindness and confidence doesn’t get much easier than that.

Why it’s leadership

Before I close this post, I want to answer a question that may be in your mind.

You may be saying, “This all sounds like kindness. I get it. But, how is it leadership?”

Great question.

In my free guide, 5 Simple Ways to Lead When You’re Not the Leader, I explain that leading others doesn’t require a title.

The Kansas Leadership Center principle, “Anyone can lead, anytime, anywhere.” applies. Being engaged on a video conference, even with a smile and a nod, is something we can all do.

But, how many people actually do it?

My experience is not many.

Most people, and I’m guilty of this too, turn off their camera. They mute their microphone and they do other things when someone else is presenting. I’m not judging. Like I said, I do this far too often.

So if you want to set yourself apart, if you want to be seen as someone who truly cares about your teammates, engaging in video conferences is a simple and easy way to do that.

I also share in the free guide, how listening well is an act of kindness. This is true in person and on a video call.

And, kind leaders are attractive and gain followers.

So build your confidence as a kind leader.

Show your teammates you are different in how you care for them by engaging with them when they are presenting.

Put down your phone. Turn on your camera. Smile and nod your head.

As I said to start this post, sometimes being a kind and confident leader is simple.

Let’s lead with kindness and confidence.

Greg

Discussion Questions

• What’s the practice in your organization? Do people tend to have their video cameras on or off during virtual meetings?

• What other tips do you have to help us encourage our teammates who are presenting on video calls?

I’m interested to know how you put this into practice in your world. Please share your experiences in the comments section so we can learn together.

About the Author – Learn more about Greg

Click here to download the free guide.

How to Write a Professional Email: Make a positive impact with every email you send.

The post How To Be Kind With Just A Smile And A Nod appeared first on Greg Harrod.

The leader of the call asks a question and the rambler answers it, about 3 or 4 times, adding more words each time. At the same time, the other people on the call are silently begging for someone to make the rambling to stop.

I’m sure you’ve been on that call. I know I have. Many, many times.

If you’re leading a call and a someone starts rambling, you’ve got a problem. You’ve got to stop them, but you don’t want to be rude.

What can you do?

I can help. Here are some techniques to not only stop someone from rambling but to help them get what they really want: to be heard.

Why it’s important to stop someone from rambling

Before we talk about how to stop someone from rambling, let’s be clear on whether we should stop them. It’s not going to be comfortable to intervene, so let’s get it set in our minds that the action we take and the associated discomfort are worth it.

The short answer is the discomfort is worth it. It’s worth it for you as a leader, for the team, for the organization, and, most importantly, it’s worth it for the rambler.

Rambling is not good for you as the leader

Simply stated, if you allow team members to ramble during the meetings you are leading, you will lose the respect of your teammates.

My position when it comes to meetings (including conference calls, video sessions, or one-on-one formal conversations) is this.

If you are the owner of the meeting, you are responsible for how the meeting is managed. Every participant in the meeting is your customer and it is up to you to provide value to them.

When you take this approach and do your best to run efficient, effective meetings, the participants in the meeting will notice. And, you will earn their respect.

Rambling is not good for the team

Think about how you behave when a person in a meeting starts to ramble. How long can you stay mentally engaged?

Maybe if you’re in the room, you can hang in there for a couple of minutes.

But, if you’re remote, in no time at all you stop sharing your video and grab your phone to pass the time until the rambling stops. Especially, if the person rambling is a known offender. You know it’s going to be a while before they stop talking so you might as well do something else. Then, when the leader finally regains control, you struggle to re-engage.

I’m keeping it real here because that’s what happens to me. If it happens you too, you can be sure we’re not alone.

Rambling is not good for the organization

Rambling by a team member can wreck a meeting. A call that is engaging, productive, and efficient can quickly lose pace and become a waste of time when disrupted by a person oversharing. Obviously, you did not schedule a meeting to waste time. You called it to get something accomplished. To deliver results.

Leading a meeting that wastes your organization’s resources is not what you have have been put in place to do.

Rambling is not good for the rambler

If you truly desire to be a kind and confident leader and you truly want to do what is best for your teammates (and I trust you do since you’re reading my blog), this is the most compelling reason to take action.

You’ve got to stop the rambler for their benefit.

You know the story you are telling about the rambler in your own mind (hopefully not to others, but I know I’m guilty of that). It isn’t a positive story. Just like it’s hard to respect a leader who can’t manage their meeting, it’s hard to respect a teammate who can’t manage their words.

We should seek the best for all our teammates and letting someone on our team ramble isn’t best for them.

As a leader, you have a choice

Hopefully, these reasons create a strong desire within us to take action when we are leading a meeting or a call and we hear the rambling begin. It’s the right thing to do even if it’s uncomfortable (and it probably will be at first).

You really have to decide on your own though. Like too many leaders you can let a rambling teammate keep going and going and going…

That’s one option and leaders choose it all the time. But remember, as the leader, when you are aware of the negative consequences of a rambler and choose to not intervene, you can no longer blame the rambler for wrecking your meeting. You are responsible.

When you do take action, however, you will be a beacon of light and a shining example for your teammates. I make that statement with confidence based on my personal experience.

I’m speaking from experience

The personal experience I’m referring to happened just this week. I was on a video conference and a couple of my teammates had far too many words to share with the group.

Thankfully, the call was being led by a seasoned pro who has learned over the years how to be an increasingly kind and confident leader.

I observed him as he applied with mastery many of the techniques I’m going to share with you. It was a work of art.

I was impressed and inspired to write this article because of his compassionate and effective handling of the situation. I wanted you to have the opportunity to learn how he was able to stop someone from rambling so they could be heard.

Here are some strategies I watched him use and some of my own I’ve had success with over the years.

3 steps to managing a rambler with kindness and confidence

This blog is all about learning to lead with kindness and confidence so let’s get into some very practical steps you can take to stop someone from rambling and help them to be heard.

1. Pause and empathize

This is the first and the most important step. When you’re leading a meeting and a person starts to dominate the discussion with their lengthy comments, it is super easy to get triggered. Ramblers can be so annoying, right? And, this can be especially true if the rambling is just complaining.

Our immediate response might be to take charge and abruptly shut them down. Blast them with a harsh comment. That would feel good, but just for a bit. Then the reality of what we’d done would hit us.

By abusing the power we have as the meeting leader and acting as a bully, we will do more damage than good. We might make this one particular meeting more efficient, we might also miss the opportunity to hear the nugget of good the rambler was wrapping in too many words.

We may also damage our relationship with that person and their allies. And, you can be sure our reputation as a kind leader will take a big hit.

Obviously, I don’t recommend this approach.

Instead, I encourage you to take a mental pause and think about the rambler as a real person.

Why might they be using so many words at this particular moment? Here are some possible scenarios to consider as you strive to understand this person at a deeper level before you respond.

6 possible reasons your teammate might be rambling

• Insecurity – Your teammate might feel intimidated and lack confidence so they respond with too many words. They may not know the answer to the question you asked. You might be able rephrase your question to put them at ease and help them realize “I don’t know, but I’ll get back with you.” is an acceptable answer.

• Loneliness – Maybe this call is the only human interaction they’ve had recently. Is this person a social butterfly who is now working from home? Maybe they’ve had a major change in their personal life like a divorce or a death in their immediate family. Real life situations impact our teammates’ behavior.

• Trust – The rambler may be opening up, albeit a bit too much, because they trust you to listen. Other leaders may have previously squelched their input and the freedom and invitation to add comments in a meeting is new to them.

• Passion – Their abundance of words may be a reflection of their passion for the topic. You want energetic, committed teammates who will fight for their views. Consider their willingness to share their perspective a positive before you rush to shut them up.

• Compensation – Some people ramble to fill the awkward silence when no one else will speak up. Is this person really dominating the conversation or does it just seem like it because no one else is contributing? How can you get others involved and take the pressure off the rambler?

• Inexperience – A person who is using too many words to communicate their point may simply need practice to express themselves clearly and concisely. We can all improve in this area. I know I can. (Have you seen the length of some of my blog posts including this one? Good grief, Greg!)

2. Stop the ramble

Even if a teammate’s intent is good, you as the leader still have to stop someone from rambling and wrecking your meeting.

We all know that once a rambler has the microphone in their hand it is extremely difficult to get them off the stage. Figuratively speaking.

Try these techniques to stop the flow and take back control of your call.

5 ways to kindly intervene when a teammate won’t stop talking

• Prevent the rambling before it starts – Give them a specific amount of time to make their comments. “Bob, I’m trying to stick to our agenda. Would you please provide an update on your work in 2 minutes or less.” Use a timer and warn them when they have 30 seconds left.

• Politely interrupt with a clarifying question and help them focus – A comment like this often works well. “Aisha, I’m sorry to interrupt but I really want to understand how this relates to the question? Could you please help me understand the connection?”

• Be specific about the input you need from them – If you ask a very specific question, you can remind them if they start rambling that you need this exact information. “Maria, I appreciate that explanation. It’s good background information, but I still need to know the date you’ll have your action item complete.”

• Strategically schedule a rambler at the end of the meeting – Every meeting should have a predefined end time. Put a known rambler at the end of the agenda so the hard stop at the end of the meeting time drives them to make their point quickly and stops them if they don’t.

• Disrupt your own meeting and break their flow – When a rambler gets in the groove, it’s hard to stop them. If you’re desperate, you can use visual and audible distractions to break their rhythm. For instance, if you’re presenting your screen, change the slide back to the agenda that shows the time allocated to their topic. Drop your notebook if you’re together in a conference room. If you’re working from home, make your dog bark. You might feel a bit embarrassed, but, as I said above, it’s worth it.

3. Help them be heard

Ironically, the one thing that a rambler wants, to be heard, is exactly what they aren’t getting by rambling.

People are tuning them out and not hearing what they have to say. The valuable input they have to share with the team is being buried in their cluttered, abundance of words.

You can help them with these strategies.

3 strategies to help a rambler be heard

• Include them in the meeting agenda – Giving a person a specific amount of time on a limited meeting schedule communicates they are important and have information the group needs to hear. It also helps them realize they aren’t the only ones on the agenda and can’t take the entire meeting time.

• Help them prepare before the meeting – Schedule individual time with a potential rambler to help them get ready and understand you value their input. A statement like this can be powerful in building up your teammate and keeping them from rambling, “Simone, I know you have a lot to contribute during the call, what are the key points you want to make? I’ll include them in the meeting agenda so we can keep the discussion focused and on track.”

• Ask them to send you an email – Requesting an email from someone who is rambling will often cause them to reconsider the importance of what they are saying. If they really want to be heard, a rambler will gladly compile their thoughts in an email. Phrasing the request like this lets them know you care about what they have to say. “What you’re saying seems critical, but I’m having trouble processing it all right now. Would you please send me an email so we can cover this properly during our next call?

• Offer to meet with them personally after the meeting – If you have tried to stop someone from rambling and it just isn’t working, try interrupting them with an offer to meet personally with them to discuss their topic further. This honors them through the investment of your time and it gives you the opportunity to mine for that precious nugget of knowledge they have within them but are struggling to clearly share. Don’t be surprised if they offer an apology for going on and on during the call. You can then share what you know and help them improve.

Stopping myself from rambling

If you’ve made it this far, you may be thinking I’ve done a fair amount of rambling myself. You may be right so let’s shut this thing down.

In all these words, I hope you’ve found some nugget of good to help you when you need to stop someone from rambling during a call or meeting.

It’s not always easy, but you can help your teammates who sometimes share too many words, but still deserve to be heard.

Put these strategies into action and you will be leading with kindness and confidence as you take care of your teammates and serve your organization.

Let’s do something great.

Greg

Discussion Questions

• How do you manage ramblers in your meetings and calls? What works well for you and what doesn’t work at all?

I’m sure you’ve dealt with those who tend to have too many words. Please share your insight in the comments section so we can learn together.

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