Category Archives: Blog posts

Bob: “Well, Wendy, what do we need to do to start building psychological safety?” Me (Wendy): “Good question. There are a number of ways. According to Modern Agile, we can establish meeting safety when we begin a meeting by agreeing to be CLEAR.” Bob: “What do you mean by agreeing to CLEAR? Aren’t we alwaysContinue reading “How to CLEARly have psychological safety at meetings“

Me (Wendy): “Bob, you’re so correct about the fear cultures that some management think it’s necessary to propel people to work hard, but in effect, it stifles innovation, creativity, and collaboration. According to Dr. Amy Edmondson (professor of Leadership and Management at Harvard Business School who came up with the term psychological safety), in orderContinue reading “Want to have better meetings? Start practicing psychological safety“

Bob: “Peter brought up the video team thrashing, eh?” Me (Wendy): “Yes. We initially started talking about the upcoming facilitation workshop, but it led to that and psychological safety.” Bob: “So, did he understand what it means?” Me: “No, but I did give him the definition – it’s the freedom to express ideas and opinionsContinue reading “How to recognize the signs of lack of psychological safety in your teams“

“ssssscrape, knock-knock-knock“ I got a Slack message from Peter! Looks like we’re going into a quick conference. Peter: “Hey Wendy, I heard from Bob what you two have been up to. That’s quite a bit of change in how we think of and run meetings, and quite a few new skills that we all needContinue reading “Successful meeting cultures: why you don’t want to break the psychological safety barrier“

Bob: “Now that we’re done with the middle – or actual heart – of the meeting, when we finish all the agenda items, it’s time to end the meeting. This is where we reflect on our work, celebrate it, and translate it into actions after the meeting.” Me (Wendy): “Yes, and it’s not just actionContinue reading “Want to know how to stand out from the typical meetings? Change the way you end“

Me (Wendy): “Now that we’ve covered the first 10 minutes, the rest of the meeting will be following the agenda. However, there’s an art of doing that which is not just calling out each agenda item. Again, it’s back to the facilitation skills. The meeting host or the facilitator will guide people through the agendaContinue reading “Do you want to liberate your meetings from staid agendas?“

Bob: “Wendy, I want to make it clear that meeting hosts nowadays need to be skilled in facilitation techniques. They are essentially facilitators, not just meeting hosts who follow an agenda and collect a list of action items at the end. Facilitators take time to design the flow of the entire meeting to ensure theContinue reading “Want to be a Better Meeting Host? Up-level your facilitation skills“

Bob: “I’m back, Wendy. Want to continue?” Me (Wendy): “Sure!” Bob: “Let’s tackle what we have to do during the meeting. Any meeting has to have a beginning, a middle, and an end, like any good movie. We need to be intentional about what we do in each of these sections. Things have to beContinue reading “How to easily set the stage for more successful meetings“

Me (Wendy): “Hey Bob, I’m done with Peter. You know, I’m quite proud of him that he’s using slack a lot more than emails nowadays. I think we’re rubbing off on him! 😉 “ Bob: “Hey Wendy, that’s good to hear! We are definitely changing Peter bit by bit! 😉 “ Me: “So, we talkedContinue reading “Remote Facilitation Magic: Things to do before a meeting to have better meetings“

Me (Wendy): “Hi Bob, I’m back. Last time, we mentioned I should structure the invitation first by laying down the outcome that we’d like to see achieved from the meeting, and what we need from whom (or what group of people). Also, we spell out the benefits of them participating in the meeting, in thatContinue reading “Invest in the art of meeting invitations to have better meetings“