WORKPLACE SKILLS & INTERPERSONAL COMMUNICATION
3 Ways NOT to Facilitate a Meeting
Insights from an experience that made my head explode
I wanted to launch my laptop out the window rather than simply click “LEAVE MEETING.” After years of gathering online, I couldn’t believe someone could be so inept at facilitating a conversation among professionals who already have a great deal in common. And yet, there I was fuming over what felt like a wasted hour rather than 60 minutes of truly connecting and learning from my peers.
Why? Because the person charged with hosting the meeting had approached the role with the “finesse” of the extraordinarily demanding theater director at my elementary school instead of recognizing the agency and professionalism of everyone on the call.
(For context, my elementary school took itself very seriously and staged plays not just for the rest of the school but for the entire town. The late night rehearsals and accuracy required of our costumes probably still fuel therapy sessions for my classmates and their parents to this day… but I digress.)
To make that 3,600 seconds of my life worthwhile and save other heads from exploding, I outline three deeply unhelpful ways to facilitate a conversation:
