Hello Reader
The Death of the Polished Agenda
I have a bit of a confession to make.
For a long time, I really believed that being a "good" facilitator meant showing up with a mask of perfection. With a bulletproof, minute-by-minute plan. I thought my value was in the polish. I wanted the perfectly timed transitions, the gorgeous slides, and the certainty of knowing exactly where we would land by 4:00 pm. I probably looked very impressive, but I was also about as flexible as a frozen yoga mat.
But lately, I realised something pretty uncomfortable.
The more we polished the agenda, the more we polished away the actual conversation.
When we walk into a room with a rigid script, we are not really there to listen. We are there to perform. And when we show up like a corporate robot, the team usually follows suit. They give the "correct" answers, they nod at the right times, and they save the real, messy, important stuff for the "meeting after the meeting" in the hallway or a private message.
Choosing heart over a script
A chatbot can write you a perfect 60-minute agenda in seconds. It can even give you some deeply cringey icebreakers.
But a chatbot cannot feel the shift in the room when a topic hits a nerve. It cannot see the person who has been quiet for forty minutes but looks like they are finally about to say something vital.
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TANGENTS CAN BE GOLD
When a conversation goes off track, this 'distraction' is often the breakthrough we have been avoiding. Follow the line of thinking and see where it takes you.
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The 50% rule
Leave half the time unscripted. If a meeting is an hour, only plan thirty minutes of actual topics. The rest is just for whatever needs to come up. Worst case, you give people their time back if you get crickets. But continue to do it, so people realise the time will be there when they finally are comfortable to raise something.
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Instead of being the expert with the perfect plan, I want to be the person who helps find the real answers, even if it gets a bit messy. Don't you? Let's take off that expert mask and make it a real conversation.
A quick question: What is the one thing your team actually needs to talk about, but isn't on any of your current plans?
I would love to hear your thoughts. Hit reply and let me know.
Let's get to work,
Rebecca
