So how do you attract the A-Players to your leadership team? 

First, determine the structure of your team; How many? What are their roles? It will look different depending on the size of your company. If you have a small business it might include everyone in the organization. If you have a larger business it’s more effective to have 8-10 key players as the upper limit. Four to six will work as well. It’s also important to give the key players in your organization the opportunity to hone their leadership skills by giving them a team of their own to develop. And, you want to keep your eye out for emerging leaders and support their development.

There are two aspects of assessment that must be done to effectively determine the A Players in your organization:

1. Performance
2. Culture fit

In order to determine the cultural factors, having a clear list of Core Values as mentioned in my previous blog, “What are the Qualities of an Ideal Leadership Team and How Can You Develop Yours?, is necessary. Everyone in your organization must understand these core-values so they know what is expected of them.

As you build your leadership team it’s important to keep your team members performing, engaged and moving forward by encouraging:

1. Communication
2. Accountability
3. Solution Focus vs. placing blame

I call this The Essential Tripod for Team Effectiveness.

Communication

95% of the companies I have worked with say that communication is the biggest obstacle to high performance and cultural excellence.

Communication is one of the main building blocks of execution and is defined as Meeting Rhythms in the Scaling Up Process.

There are two processes that can be built in immediately to enhance Communication and get things done:

1. Using Parts of Speech whenever a meeting is held with one another or several.
2. Regular weekly Accountability Meetings with team members (I will discuss this more in my next blog post).

Parts of Speech

• Framing– an agenda for a meeting or conversation – what is to be discussed, preferred outcomes, how conversation will proceed
• Illustration – use familiar examples to create reference points for understanding and engagement with the topic
• Advocacy is the reason for the conversation. Often, it’s either not stated enough or in a timely manner, or it may become too much of the conversation. But it should always be understood and stated clearly to create trust.
• Inquiry is not a series of questions you have about a person but rather what they think about what you are saying or the issue or idea you are discussing. You want to get their perception and point of view as part of the conversation. This is the Part of Speech used the least but is most important for engagement, participation and buy in.

Accountability

It’s important to create engagement rather than competition within the team. Disagreements can occur of course and are part of a healthy engaged team.

Conduct weekly team meetings and at the end of each meeting pick one person to have a 15-minute call with during the week to discuss a goal and an action you will take to achieve it. Then conduct another call the following week to share progress on that action step and next steps. This begins the process of accountability to your peers and the willingness to be transparent to each other.

Solution Focus vs. placing blame

The first essential part of successful problem solving is to be Solution focused. Often, time is spent studying the components and details of the problem and placing blame on someone or something, all of which do not solve the problem.

Solution focus looks ahead to the result desired and the components that make up the positive result. It is an opportunity to create greater team conversation and communication.

I’ll be continuing the conversation on building an effective leadership team in my next article. In the meantime, if you have any questions or would like to share a challenge or success please be sure to leave a comment. I would enjoy hearing from you and continuing the conversation.

 Related Reading

“What are the Qualities of an Ideal Leadership Team and How Can You Develop Yours?”, author, Patricia Heyman

“Scaling Up; How a Few Companies Make It…and Why the Rest Don’t“, author, Verne Harnish

“The Five Dysfunctions of a Team: A Leadership Fable”, author, Patrick Lencioni

“Action Inquiry: The Secret of Timely and Transforming Leadership“, author, Bill Torbert

In a recent conversation with a colleague at a consulting company where I partner, we discussed change and how limited the processes are for dealing with the period of transition which is between the change and the new beginning.

As we all know “the only constant in the universe is change”. However most of us want things to stay the same or constant and so we resist change.

If we can initiate a mindset of the Transition as an exciting and creative period, our perspective will change, as will the success of innovation and new initiatives.

As a consultant I have worked with many companies who are engaged in acquisition, merger and reorganization. The stages of transition outlined in William Bridges’ book, Managing Transitions, Making the most of Change, introduce some practical mindsets and actions that make change have a positive transition period that will increase the success of the new beginning.

Change is situational, transition is psychological.

The stages of change and transition are: 

1. The intentional ending phase where we stop doing things the old way and recognize that letting go of the old to make room for the new is important.
2. Transitional Neutral Zone where innovations, new processes and enhanced perspectives can occur.
3. New Beginning vs. New Start.

There are three crucial things to remember to allow change to create a positive environment.

1. The change itself is something that is a given. Often people are expected to move forward without having let go of the previous way. I am sure you have seen organizations move forward with a change without taking the time to let go of the old way, or clarifying what will remain the same and what is going away. A good example of this is a company acquisition; change exists for both the company that is bought, as well as for the acquiring company. Discussions about what will be different are important, with the recognition that some of the old processes will disappear. Often change is only couched as a positive without the recognition that letting go of what has been the norm is a process that is necessary to bring forward new positive behaviors.
2. The second stage, which can be the most neglected, is what Bridges calls the Transitional or the Neutral Stage during which the adjustment to the new takes place. It is important that the recognition of this essential stage be given time and priority for adjustments to take place. This can be a time of innovation and the development of new perspectives that will enable a successful new beginning.
3. The third stage is the New Beginning which is greater than just a new start. The new beginning includes new perspectives and new practical tools that will be used to leverage the change. This follows the opportunity to realistically let go of the old processes and use the transition period for discovery and for innovation that may not have taken place otherwise.

Change management is a skill; however, the how-to for that skill can be learned and implemented if it is given time and priority. Giving an organization the opportunity to recognize the three stages of managing change, and to enable the transition throughout, is an essential first step in creating new reference points for new behavior.

Do you have a question, challenge, or success you would like to share? Please be sure to leave a comment. I would enjoy hearing from you! – Patricia

I can guarantee as you give this more attention, particularly as you move into planning for year ahead, you will find that leadership teamwork, as well as cross functional collaborative leadership conversations, will be more successful.

As you build your listening skills it becomes easier to create a greater connection between you and your colleagues. It is not necessary to inquire about their personal lives to be connected. In fact that can be disconcerting. It is more a matter of being interested in who they are and how they think about what is being discussed. So often in conversation we think about what we are saying without paying attention to the interactive process. The key to engagement is in knowing what the other person thinks and giving the space for them to say that.

Essential communication which includes time for connection is something that has parameters and needs focus. Time is at a premium so intentional conversations are important.

How many of you are using the open-door policy?

This is often seen as the way to create a sense of availability and connection. My opinion is that this is a false premise that can create inefficiency, block high performance and impede effective communication. There are several aspects of the open-door policy that I would like to discuss as a way of introducing more efficiency and effective meeting time.

A few years ago I was asked to coach the COO of a large regional bank. I was coaching the President, CEO, and several senior vice presidents on the leadership team. One of the COO’ s stated goals for our coaching engagement was time management because he was consistently taking work home in the evenings and over the weekend. In addition, and more important, he was quiet at the top leadership meetings and felt unseen and out of communication with the CEO.

As we discussed his view of his job and the important priorities he had developed, he began to talk about his open-door policy. As you might imagine, he was extremely well liked by all and spent his day getting interrupted constantly. This to me is an example of the collaborative leadership premise that states that one of the least successful modes used for communication is the “drop-in meeting.”

In our initial conversations, I became aware of his caring and his expertise. In addition he had some innovative and expansive ideas for the development of the bank that he had not shared with his peers, the President or the CEO of the bank. He had developed a sense of inadequacy because of his lack of time to focus on preparation for the executive leadership meetings.

We all appreciate a sense of control over our lives, but in reality the “drop-in” creates interruption, a lack of preparation, and can lengthen into a long period of time where the person who has dropped in has abdicated her responsibility for reflection, research and decision making.

As I worked with my client we set up a new routine which called for having his available hours posted on the door so that appointments could be made for those times. A positive consequence of this routine was that the members of his team began to talk more to each other and to arrive at his office with more organized thinking and with decisions for approval rather than beginning discussions.

In addition, he was able to organize his day and set aside time on the calendar for thought projects that he wanted to do, which also gave him confidence to discuss his ideas in the Executive Leadership meetings. The latter created a greater sense of executive presence and value for him which served to enhance his presence as a top leader.

If you have been experiencing interruptions and a feeling at the end of the day that you did not drive any of your priorities consider changing the open door. This is just one, easy to change, performance tip that can have many positive consequences for your colleagues, and for your team.

Do you have any questions, challenges, or successes you would like to share? Please be sure to leave a comment. I would enjoy hearing from you! – Patricia

During the strategic planning processes and discussions, discussion of values and purpose is often neglected. As you may have experienced, often, even with a beautiful strategic plan, the implementation activity can miss the mark because communication and personal accountability are missing.

But with more intentional communication you create value for your team and for the relationships necessary to foster better follow-through and a more successful outcome. One of the best ways to communicate with intention is with the discussion of core values and the purpose contained in the Strategic Plan. There is a difference between what we do and why we do it.

Here are some examples of core values you might consider:

• To create excellence and not settle for mediocrity
• To empower people within the company to bring forward innovative ideas
• To encourage communication because we know it facilitates success
• To give the world a product that contributes to the quality of life
• To create a work environment that stimulates creativity and allows for learning
• As an innovative culture, to create an environment where it is safe to have a” bad idea”
• To deliver value above expectation
• To foster high performance and to reward success

Here is a Strategic Planning Tool I have been using recently that begins the strategic planning process with the creation or review of core values and purpose. With this in hand, setting priorities and the creation of a clear strategy becomes a successful process, and most importantly, the implementation actions and metrics for honestly observing results becomes a group project owned by all.

I have worked with leaders who are in companies that were started over 100 years ago. When the companies began, their core values were developed and communicated to employees, and listed throughout the organization. But unfortunately they often became part of background rather than a purpose that is current and can drive results.

So much of performance and productivity is impacted by values, some of which are not always consciously remembered. Sharing of those values can create a commitment and ownership throughout the company.

Many of you begin the fiscal year with the calendar year. A good exercise for the beginning of the coming year would be to create and /or to revisit core values and purpose as part of your opening leadership meeting. If you have begun the year October, as many businesses do, you are already halfway through the first quarter and can begin arranging meetings for leaders and teams to incorporate the value exercise.

Would you like suggestions on how to facilitate the values exercise? Please let me know and we can create a meeting time to have a brief discussion to assist the process.

If you have a leadership question, challenge, or success you would like to share, please be sure to leave a comment. Also, if you are willing to share some of your core values that you think are especially important that would be great! – Patricia

As many of you know one small change can create ripples that will allow you to see a difference and effect in all areas of the business.

Using the Scaling Up process and the Rockefeller Four Decisions creates those ripples. The following is a recap of the Four Decisions methodology, along with a few suggestions, that you can begin to consider in your review and planning process for 2017:

The People Decision: The first and most important decision is addressing the health of the leadership team which has tremendous influence on company culture.

Give your leadership the chance to recognize that they are part of a team, to acknowledge the connection, to take accountability, and to create a culture of communication. This will lead to:

a. Greater trust
b. Willingness to conflict with honesty in order to make the best choices
c. Commitment to team goals, to create alignment moving forward
d. Accountability to each other as decisions are made and initiatives move forward
e. Attention to the results—willingness to look and measure to see how things are working.

The Strategy Decision is the area where you define the way forward for the organization by clearly establishing and communication the company’s:
a. Purpose
b. Core Values
c. Core Competencies
d. The big goal(BHAG) looking 10 years ahead
e. A 3-5 year plan

The Execution Decision: Plan for the year, quarter, month, by team, department, and individual. This area often causes the greatest frustration, but also has great gain when the three most important aspects are used.
a. Setting priorities
b. Measuring results
c. Meeting Rhythms

The Cash Decision: This is the area that provides you with the oxygen to grow your business:
a. Cash flow
b. Profitability
c. Cash Conversion

This is a brief summary of the Four Decisions to provide you with information that might strike a chord for you. If you are interested in exploring the Scaling Up-Four Decisions content more fully, and the advantage it will give you going into the New Year, please contact me for more information on our workshops and trainings and to see which is right for you. We also have information available on the Bridging Associates website. You might also want to purchase a copy of Scaling Up.

~ Patricia

That article began with these questions:

1. How can I develop a team that will not need to talk to me and still move forward?
2. Why do we have a great strategic plan and then only get a fraction of execution of that plan?
3. Why don’t the functional leaders of this organization work together more effectively?
4. How can we engage people in our vision and make it their own?
5. There is no one who can take my position at this time, and I am not sure the people that are on my team can be the ones.

I would like to postulate that the most important aspect of leadership development in 21st century business is the ability to create leadership at all levels. Top leadership cannot afford to continue to have only a small percentage of people leading a large number who have not learned to express their leadership, nor use information about the vision of the organization to affect their conversations and decisions.

We all know that communication is key, yet how can we define communication so that it affects results? In the Rockefeller Habits the first and most important question is: Is the Leadership Team Healthy?

The first area to look at is the top leadership team to assure that the coming together of that team creates positive changes in the people, strategy, execution and cash position of the business.

When you decide to make meetings a priority, execution improves almost immediately. I was invited into a large Fortune 500 company because one of the top teams was having difficulty due to continuous conflict that was exaggerated by lack of effective communication and collaboration.

The plan that I proposed and delivered included individual confidential interviews with specific questions relating to team effectiveness, leadership and collaboration. I interviewed the Vice President team leader and the direct report leaders who each lead a team of managing leaders within the manufacturing plant. In addition, an initial day-long meeting was scheduled with the leadership team, followed by four monthly meetings over a period of 6 months.

The results have been very positive with the team working together in a new way, with a sense of empowerment, effective communication, and results that have created greater accountability and rhythm in the manufacturing area.

The first meeting consisted of using the Rockefeller Four Decisions Methodology and some communication exercises that began to get past the conflict and focus more on the strategic direction and core values of the team, and of the larger business.

The most effective and important part of this process is to allow team members to go beyond their own personal concerns, and to access their leadership and their contribution to the business as a whole.

In the Execution Module, the most important aspects are: priorities, metrics and meeting rhythms.

Have you struggled with meetings that lose focus and seem to accomplish nothing or less that you planned?

Would you see the advantage in having meeting rhythms that would create better, faster decisions?

The rhythm refers to daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly and annual contacts of the functional teams in the organization, starting with the top leadership. You can start to reshape the effectiveness of your meeting rhythms to conform to the real time of your business.

Daily Huddle-–These serve to Synchronize the Team. They are short, no longer than 15 minutes, and can be shorter. They are designed to bring forward issues that need resolution but do not necessarily need to be solved on the spot. The format is short and allows each person to speak and to talk about the day, what is up, and if there is any place where they feel stuck

Speeds up business, insures teamwork, and heal relationships

Weekly Meeting—Focus and Collaboration: These serve as a status and update session for the leadership team and other departmental teams.

Monthly Meeting— Learn and Solve: This meeting includes the top leadership and the next level to provide information and to review progress. These meetings, along with the huddle and weekly meetings, address the strategy and progress, as well as provide a leadership opportunity for the management staff to give them a sense of progress and of their contribution to the overall strategic plan.

Quarterly Meeting— Full Day: Priorities and Critical Numbers: These serve as directed review, communication and education opportunities, and create the sense of teamwork at all levels.

The four meetings above are the recognition of the 13-week cycle of each quarter for the whole organization.

Annual Meeting—Reviews the year and plans for the upcoming year.

I highly recommend Scaling Up by Verne Harnish where these meetings are discussed more fully. The Rockefeller Habits and Four Decisions are a very effective way to scale up your business and to increase results. I find this way of expanding business and of creating a culture that develops leadership and accountability to be effective and practical.

I hope this month brings great results and connection for you and your team!

As always, if you have a question, challenge, or success story you would like to share, please be sure to leave a comment. Also, if you are interested in an opportunity to experience this methodology, please let me know. I would enjoy hearing from you! – Patricia

Now many see that meetings are the core of successful implementation or execution of strategic planning. Both of these areas can be done more successfully by setting priorities and giving teams the ability to communicate, set up accountability, and problem solve with greater trust.

The essential component of business growth and success is the Health of the Executive Leadership Team which cascades down into the business no matter how large the company. Meeting Rhythms are an effective way to promote a healthy company culture and ongoing awareness of priorities within the organization, which is essential to moving business goals and business growth forward.

Meeting rhythms encompass the course of a full year, and are positioned as an important part of the overall business strategy and flow. Below are the recommended meetings to include in your company rhythm , from daily huddles to the annual meeting. Some may already be a part of your execution culture, some may not. The important thing to remember is that team cohesiveness at all levels is vital to the process.

Daily Huddles: these meetings typically start the day, and are held with everyone standing (who is able), and last 15 minutes or less. Daily huddles must have a specific agenda:

• What’s Up for you related to today
• What is the top priority for the day
• Am I stuck

Weekly Team Meetings for focus and collaboration: The weekly meeting should be held at the same time each week. Most organizations hold them either at the start of the week to set the stage for a productive week ahead, or at the end of the week, to serve as a recap of the week’s activities and performance. This is an opportunity to gather brain power to discuss strategically issues and solutions. This is also an opportunity for the leader to spend time with the team encouraging team relationships.

Monthly Meetings include front-line, middle and senior management and focus on strategic discussion and collaboration on issues and solutions, and further learning. They can be half or full day.

Quarterly Meetings: These are typically held offsite for one day to encourage uninterrupted focus on action planning and review of the yearly strategic plan.

Annual Meeting: This is typically held offsite as well for up to two days and includes review and strategy of the plan for the upcoming year.

The term Meeting Rhythms is used because the successful implementation comes from making the above meeting structure a part of everyday work patterns.

In my last article, Are you Thinking and Planning or Just Doing, I mentioned the basic foundations of strategy; Core Values and Purpose, along with Brand Promise and knowing your Core Customer. In all meetings, except the huddle, it is a good idea to review your organization’ values, purpose and brand promise, or have them visible. This way the foundation of your business is always present in each meeting as the planning and review are done.

Huddles and Weekly meetings provide opportunity to build trust and to correct difficult interaction issues. When things are left unspoken they tend to grow. However, adopting the business practice of regularly scheduled time together can help teams lift above their emotional reactions that stop progress, and bring them back into focus. Meeting rhythm creates consistency, which in turn, creates greater trust, and comfort in accountability.

You can find more information on Meeting Rhythm in Verne Harnish’s book, Scaling Up, How a Few Companies Make It…and Why the Rest Don’t.

Do you have a question, challenge, or success you would like to share? Please be sure to leave a comment. I would enjoy hearing from you! – Patricia

When you are a senior leader you are likely the one to encourage an environment that uses conscious leadership, or managing up, in order to create the relationship you want with your team and your boss.

I have had several clients in the last year where managing up became an important conscious choice. All are at the VP level of Leadership and have relationships with the CEO of the organization. One is supervised by the CEO, while the others are just below the level of the top leadership team.

The first client is a Global VP who has been constrained by poor communication, resulting in a lack of knowledge of how to meet expectations, or even what the expectations are. This has caused anxiety and lack of confidence, which has, in turn, affected her communication in meetings with top leadership. It was important for her to become aware of her strengths, and to bring those into her communication and expression of innovative ideas.

As I continue to work with these leaders, the common issue is predominantly a lack of aware self-definition and communication, which can be better facilitated by working with Core Values and Purpose.

In the second client situation, the expectations for the VP kept her online to deal with conflict and challenging conversations for others. This hindered the overall development of her sustainable communication, leadership, and vision for engagement. As she has set up conversations with her boss to further define her function, they are beginning to develop a partnership to solve problems that creates more support.

A third client has been exploring his desire to move up into top leadership. He has had an awkward time in the discussion of the future, and it seems that he and his boss have difficulty understanding each other. As he begins to consider and refine his vision, and what he would like to contribute to the company, he is experiencing better connection with his boss, and they are discovering new areas of mutuality as they discuss the future.

Here are some key activities to help you with Conscious and Effective Managing Up from an empowered position:

1. Schedule regular weekly or at least bi-weekly meetings with your direct boss to keep communication open, as a way for you to report in and as a way to receive information. Come to the meeting with a prepared agenda for what you would like to cover. If your boss wishes to drive the agenda that is OK but you want to know yours.
2. Consider your vision of your career tract and what you would like to be known for doing to make a positive contribution to your company. This moves you into a more proactive stance rather than a reactive one.
3. Create opportunities to become more aware of how others are receiving your communication, and seek their responses to your communication.
4. Become more neutral and exploratory when conversing with top leaders so you can learn what they want to be known for and what is important to them.
5. Find opportunities to discuss with peers or a coach what is important to you, your core values, and the purpose you see for doing your job.

We are creating a forum for the discussion of manifesting your leadership and managing up to create influence and impact. Please let us know your thoughts and experiences.

If you have a leadership question, challenge, or success you would like to share, please be sure to leave a comment. I would enjoy hearing from you! – Patricia

In my last couple of articles I’ve provided a deeper look into our Four Meeting Model:

The Introductory Meeting sets the stage for the new meeting process, and is used with both leadership teams and leadership peers to create a laboratory for growth, connection, and solution-focus. The outcome is a more strategic leadership team that leads to more unity in the organization and greater cross functional communication.

The First Meeting provides a method for switching from a content-focused meeting to one more focused on the context and process of the interaction among team members, using exercises in communication and building trust.

The Second Meeting focuses on the concept of spending more time creating accountability partnerships with peers so that progress toward connection and greater ownership begins.

Today we continue with the Third and Fourth Meetings:

The Third Meeting:

– Take a few minutes for each team partnership to review their projects separate from the group and to set some accountability agreements for the coming week. This is an opportunity for the leader of the team to model reporting to the entire group on his/her goals and progress over the last weeks, and to request specific support.

– Then give an opportunity for each person to give a brief, 2-3 minute, account of progress in fulfilling the opportunity to make agreements, have the supporting conversations, and to create the results.

– Have Team Partners discuss privately with each other, any implementation details, and take time to set up check-in calls during the week, for 15 minutes.

The Fourth Meeting and Renewal Meetings moving forward:

– Team members report what has gone well and where the challenges are, remaining solution- focused vs. blame-focused.

– From the challenges presented, one can be selected for moving forward into a solution. Often this will involve some inquiry from others to create clarity in the situation, not to look for causative factors.

– As the team moves forward, time should be given to the solution in the next staff meeting so that people have time to think about their offered suggestions. This creates the base for collaboration that is empowering, and accountability that taps into the strengths of each person on the team.

– Devote a part of each meeting moving forward to presenting wins and challenges, and then select one team member at each meeting to receive the input of other team members on their particular challenge.

– It has been found that the usual meeting model of each business leader giving a report of business does not engage everyone in the room; rather it becomes a report to the leader and to those who stay engaged. When engaging the team in shared leadership, it is important to look at what works (the wins) and what is not working (challenges), and most importantly, what engages everyone in the solution. The usual report can be handed out for reading once the important aspects have been said in the meeting.

CALL TO ACTION:

During your next meeting take time to observe communication and to see how much problem solving takes place within the meeting. This meeting model can be instituted as part of your regular meeting schedule, and begins the process of having meetings that truly forward the work of your organization. It also provides an opportunity for each person to develop leadership and communication skills that can move throughout the organization to create a culture of collaboration and trust.

The full Four Meeting Model can be downloaded here.

Do you have a leadership question, challenge, or success you would like to share? Please be sure to leave a comment. I would enjoy hearing from you! – Patricia

Conflict is a huge part of creative thinking and is necessary to breaking down old structures that keep us from seeing new patterns or new organization that will bring more success. But many are afraid of conflict and avoid it, particularly in the workplace. Indeed, some organizations have conflict resolution techniques in place which are meant to stop the conflict. But why not use conflict as a tool for building greater connection and accountability, bringing forward new thoughts, perceptions and ideas that create a greater vision.

This is the premise for the Four Meeting model which is a handbook for creating meetings that allow for greater creativity and performance for each person, and for the entire team.

In the First Team Meeting, following the Introductory meeting, have each person:

• Introduce themselves as if it is the first time they are meeting.
• The way they see their function or role in the company.
• How their function relates to the function of each person at the table.
• Then it will be valuable to see if what people have said about their function is actually how others see it. Obviously, if there are differences there is an opportunity created for more clarity to be established.

The focus of this meeting will be to develop alignment so discussion of current business can follow.

Take time to set up the Second Meeting. It will be important to have full attendance, even if it is remote, as these meetings are going to be driving results.

The Second Team Meeting is critical in establishing a system of consistent follow up and accountability, and for opening up communication about each person’s role, and how the functions of each member can be connected to create better department results.

This meeting is ideally scheduled a week, to two weeks after the first:

• Discuss any questions or issues that may have come up in the intervening week.
• Take a few minutes for each person to discuss current projects and challenges they are dealing with.
• Create agreements from each person to move forward or complete their projects.
• Set up partnerships within the group so each person is accountable to one other person for agreements. It can be of value for each person to pick a partner with whom they have not had much contact.
• Set up some action steps toward completion for the coming week with partner.
• Discuss with partner the implementation details, and take time to set up check-in calls during the week, for 15 minutes.
• During these calls it will be important to talk about progress, and any challenges that are getting in the way.
• Discuss the next meeting time and come back together for the close.
• Close meeting.

The first two meetings, along with the Introductory meeting, create a safe place for new ideas and for the discussion of challenges that need solutions. With greater connection and partnership, problem-solving becomes possible with a shorter time frame.

Stay tuned for more on the Four Meeting Model; we’ll be taking a closer look at the elements of the Third and Fourth meetings next time.

Would you like to see the Four Meeting Model in its entirety? Request a copy here: Send me a copy of the Collaborative Leadership Four Meeting Model.

Do you have a leadership question, challenge, or success you would like to share, please be sure to leave a comment. I would enjoy hearing from you! – Patricia