Learn the dance: the 4 key steps to meeting awesomeness

You know the meeting merry-go-round where there is so much circling back on to topics covered earlier. Or meetings and conversations when some people don't move on and others seem to wrap up the meeting but no one knows who's going to do what. 

'Aaaargh - there's an hour of my life I'll never get back,' you say.

Here's the thing; if you've called a meeting or are leading a meeting, it's up to you to keep 'em on track, help them participate and make outcomes happen.

Don't blame 'them'. You're it. It's on you. 

Here's how I roll: whenever I'm facilitating a strategic workshop, a strategy session, a design thinking workshop, I am ALWAYS listening and looking out for whether the talk is in one of these four areas:

1. Backstory
2. Opinions
3. Ideas
4. Outcomes

That's it. And I make sure we move through that process throughout the meeting - also making sure everyone get's to contribute, add stuff, say what they need and so on. 

There's a visual of my Facilitator 4-Step - as I call it - here. I'm always doing this 'dance' to make sure we get to the outcome in every meeting and workshop with clients. 

Most people think they're pretty damn hot at meeting leadership. I disagree. Most of what I see in workplaces gets really mucky and muddy between steps 1, 2 and 3, and not doing 4 well either. 

There's an ebook I have that unpacks the model. Email me and I'll send it to you! As a gift. 

Dance on folks - just learn the steps. You won't tread on any toes, I promise, and you'll have plenty of dance partners for years to come!