Time to express yourself

…you are to make an important and complex decision that affects many people across the organization.

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When people have strong feelings about what is happening, they need time to come to grips with their feelings before they will “own” the needed action steps and energetically focus on positive experiences and actions.

Forces

• Agendas that directly affects many people’s lives and work necessitate longer meetings.
• When people have strong feelings about what is happening, they need time to come to grips with their feelings before they will “own” the needed action steps.
• Having the first day to let people pour out their feelings about the past and stew in the mess enables to focus on positive experiences and make the second day energetic and action oriented—“You need Tuesday to get to Wednesday”.

Therefore:

Give people time to come to grips with their feelings before focusing on action.

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Sources

• Don’t just do something, stand there!—Ten Principles for Leading Meetings That Matter by Marvin Weisbord, Sandra Janoff