12 things to do when leading HYBRID groups

When some people are here and others are offsite or in another location, don’t just wing it, or bumble through it. 

Plan for it, and be ready to adapt. 


These are the things I prepare, consider and address when I’m training or facilitating, to bring a team or group together who are spread over several locations. 

It’s not everything but it’s many things. They take into consideration that we are all humans, just trying to do the best we can - often under some tricky or less then perfect conditions. 


The 12 things:

Plan - what is it
Tools - which ones
Structure - what am I following
Tech - what are we using

Activities - which ones 
Questions - what will I ask
Techniques - what will I do if...
Input - how will I collect it

Visualize - how will I show it 
Warmth - how will I convey it
Adapt - am I willing to
After - then what...


This is my checklist for a meeting or workshop and I don’t ‘take off’ without having considered or prepared them. 

Frame the reason

Received an invitation for a meeting recently and there’s nothing but a vague title of the meeting? 

The convener or caller of the meeting may know what the meeting is all about... but those expected to attend may not. 

Fast forward to the actual meeting, and it’s worth explaining some more : why we’re meeting, what we’re going to do and how we’ll do it. 

When you’ve got a room (or zoom) full of people, they need to know what this is about and why they should care. 


FRAME the reason you’re all there, what’s behind, what’s ahead and what you’re expecting or hoping for. 

That frame is a structure, a context and a framework. It supports a system. 

And that meeting is a system. 

Frames are powerful Sensemaking tools, engaging people and switching on their curiosity. 

And they’re too often left out of the work we’re trying to do together. 

Remember, you might understand why ... but they may not. 

Thankfully it’s easy fixed - with a decent frame. 

Up in the clouds... or down in the details

Up in the clouds... or down in the details. Author Jim Haudan suggests people across an organisation 'fly' at different levels. You'll experience it every day.

We have different altitudes of perspective and so we see different things, think differently.

We know this from being in an aircraft:

✈️ On the ground: you can see the airport, trees and tarmac as you're taxiing to the runway;

✈️ Up in the air: up to a few thousand feet up there, you can see cars, roads, rivers and patchwork quilts of fields and farms; and

✈️ Cruising Altitude: way up there, at 35,000 feet and above it’s cruising altitude and you're getting the big picture.

You can see a broader perspective stretching way w-a-y over the horizon. Today's leaders need to be able to fly at all levels - and most of all, to be able to recognise it or hear it when others are speaking.

This is one of the capabilities of the 'Leader as Facilitator' I posted on yesterday. Your preference may keep you 'locked' at a level that's not helpful.

Q: What say you? Are you an 'up in the clouds' person, 'down in the details' or do you fly somewhere in the middle? 

The Accelerated Meeting Framework

'Everybody in the house put your hands up'... who would prefer that meetings went on l-o-n-g-e-r  than they already do?

And keep your hands up if you'd like those meetings to achieve even less than they do now?

Urgh - so many meetings are just a time, energy, mood and productivity waste that we can't even be bothered putting our hands up!

But what to do? How to keep it short, sharp, focused and driving towards outcomes?

Try my Accelerated Meeting Framework:

1. Start with the background - no interruptions, just set the scene of why we're here, what we're gonna do and the facts and data that inform where we're at now. 

2. Then open it up - stand back and let the talking and opinions fly. Let people have their say, put forward their viewpoint and get it off their chest. Be sure to make visual and visible note of the key things people are contributing. Keep it to the topic, share the contribution and 'air time' around. Beware, this is where things can go around in circles - summarise what the main views are. 

3. Generate ideas and opportunities, possibilities and potential. List them and visually capture them so people can see. Narrow down the ones that are quick wins, easy to implement, partially done (see my blog on Stop Starting, Start Finishing) or will bring a great return on investment. 

4. List the actions that are to be followed up and implemented. Put names and dates next to those. Make it visual and visible, so people can see what you've worked through and where you've got to. 

Done. 

The success of meetings, workshops and strategy sessions is judged on what is done, what is achieved and what progress is made.

You're responsible for leading a team to great progress. 

Use visuals with your meeting and you'll reduce meeting time by 25%.

Use my Accelerated Meeting Framework and you'll get through more, quicker. 

Clean up your (meeting) room!

Last week I ran a skills workshop in an organisation's meeting room. 

I could tell it was a meeting room because there was a sign on the door that said "Meeting Room". 

But if I'd been guided in there with my eyes closed and then opened my eyes, this room could have easliy doubled for the "Storage Room".

This meeting room was a dumping ground for old broken chairs, additional surplus chairs, trolleys, boxes of supplies, more chairs, some broken tables, filing cabinets, storage cupboards and other 'junk'. 

The environment this created was .... cluttering. 

I spent time before the session, clearing some breathing space, sectioning off an area and making sure the 'working space' was separate from the 'storage space'. There wasn't alot I could do about the 'rubbish space'. 

The feedback was that it was the best meeting room they'd seen and worked in. 

When space is at a premium, it's understandable that any sort of space begins to get taken over. 

But the cost on your communication, collaboration, productivity and performance suffers, particularly when you can't get things done swiftly or cleanly because the environment is polluted. 

Clean up your (meeting) room. And if you need half of it for a storeroom, then section it off so that the roles and purposes of those spaces are clear. 

How often do you hear interior designers on lifestyle shows talk about 'zones' for living. Retailers do it too. They're looking for ways to create an environment that will give you a positive reaction... not a reminder from your mum that you need to clean up your room!

So here's a reminder from me.... clean up your meeting room. It's costing you so much more than a bit of cluttered floor space.