Are you there with curiosity

Or did critique and complaint show up instead? 

There can be an easier, default response to be right ... by pointing out the wrong. 

But these times of extreme change and uncertainty require a greater openness of mind, a willingness to wonder and a greater sense of possibility. 

Our curiosity bias is there. We think, ponder and are curious about many, many things. 

How can we be curious about the things that might benefit from our curiosity? 


1. Do we bring curiosity to potentially boring meetings? 

Do we think:
“OMG this is so dull and boring; they are a hopeless leader.”

Or do we think:
“Hmmm, how could I help bring greater engagement or contribute to higher interest - for myself and others? What else is possible? What could I do here?”


2. Do we bring curiosity to a dense information pack?

Do we think:
“Ugh what waffle. Pages of it! They’ve missed the point. They’ve got no idea.”

Or do we think:
“Hmmm I wonder what the intention is? What’s the main point here? How can I best make sense of this?”


It may be easier to critique but the better, and more powerful work is in curiosity. 

Be there with curiosity. 

Move beyond the clichés

- Let’s take it offline 
- I hear what you’re saying
- Let’s car park it 
- I’ll take it on board

These meeting clichés can be said to dismiss, defer or redirect attention. 

We might be economical, to “keep things moving”, so we use clichés for convenience. 

But they’re overused, unoriginal and predictable. 

Clichés might be convenient for you but they’re not so good for genuine, human conversations and interactions. 

People zone out. It doesn’t connect. 


Why not say what a human would say to another human, in a normal conversation style. 

Speak originally and genuinely, leaving ‘cliché city’ behind! 

The distances between us call for greater humanity and originality.

In a world where connection with each other has been impacted, it’s worth us trying to communicate in more human ways ... not less. 

How do you plan to include people

It sucks to be forgotten, ignored, excluded or left out. So in a team or group meeting, how are you planning to include people? 

In meetings and workshops we may have presentations scheduled, information to share and decisions to be made. 

But how will you involve and include people in the session? 

Inclusion happens better when it’s by design. 

We know that people get excluded, overlooked and forgotten if we leave it to chance, or our bias and ego. 

Take that meeting agenda you’ve got and work out when and how you’ll deliberately include and involve people. 

Where can you :
- Ask people their thoughts and opinions
- Encourage them to share stories
- Invite comments, answers and suggestions
- Welcome questions, queries and insights 
...and more. 

Too many meetings have the ‘any other questions?’ footnote at the end as a way of involving people. 

But by then, it’s kind of too late. 

Start sooner. Right off the bat!

Create opportunities for involvement, participation, contribution and inclusion. 

It makes for stronger engagement ... as well as better outcomes. 

What is a breakout room really for

So many online meetings!
So many breakout rooms!

And there’s too much “break into a room and have a chat” going on. 

While yes, connection, conversation and support are wonderful, there comes a point where more structure is needed. 


When used lazily, breakout rooms waste time, disengage people and fail to bring out valuable contribution. 

The breakout room is not to:
❌Kill or take up time
❌Give the facilitator or speaker a break
❌Get participants just doing something... anything.

People have wonder and genius to share. Let’s help them share it!


What’s better to do in a breakout room? 
- Wrestle with a question (better than ‘what do you think of ...?’)
- Share stories on a theme or topic 
- Solve a problem 
- Apply a process
- Generate ideas
- Reflect or review 
- Teach each other 
- Draft or craft
- Uncover insights 
- Prepare or rehearse
- Connect dots
- Plan a response ...


There is more and better we can do in online meetings. 

And a worthy effort is how we discover and uncover contribution. 

What’s the backstory and how will you uncover it

Many a meeting or workshop happens because we want to gather ideas from people, or ‘bring them along’ as a group or team. 

And each meeting presents ideal opportunities to connect, engage and share stories. 

But some meetings don’t allow even a few minutes here and there to listen and learn from people’s experiences. 

It’s such a shame we might push on with progress and not value this experience. 

If you’re feeling a disconnect or distance in your team or group, be sure to build in and allow time for sharing stories. 

It’s how we make sense of what’s going on. 

Invest some time:
- at the start of meetings
- between agenda items
- returning from breaks
... to hear from people. 

Give more time to understand a backstory or personal perspective. 

It can help inform what happens next.