Great staff meetings require these 7 rules

Leaders can’t lead without meeting with others. Sometimes meetings go well. Sometimes they don’t. Often team dynamics derail productive meetings simply because someone misspoke or misheard. 

As I began to realize this, several years ago, I asked a psychologist to help me create some rules for talking in our staff meetings. I call them conversational ethics. Here are the 7 rules.

1. Listen: Let others say their piece; as Covey said, “Seek to understand before being understood.”

2. Suspend judgment: Don’t make assumptions about what others say.

3. Share in the thought pool: Everybody gives input; participate truthfully (how you really feel).

4. Stay detached from your ideas: Don’t take things personally; use “I” messages; own your personal view.

5. Let others be inarticulate: Help others articulate what they are trying to say by engaging.

6. Privacy: If personal issues with you and another person potentially could affect a discussion and/or a decision, first deal with it 1-on-1 in private with the individual.

7. Accountability: Everybody helps hold each other accountable to this set of ethics.

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