Stealth Meeting Facilitation from the Rank-and-File – The Conversation – Harvard Business Review

Often, meetings get stuck because not everyone (or no one) has prepared. Let’s face it, everyone’s busy. Whether that meeting prep document is sent out early, or 20 minutes before the meeting starts, people aren’t stopping to read it to prepare. Other times someone conducts the meeting off the cuff or tosses out issues for an open brainstorm. These approaches waste everybody’s time. To avoid this, I encourage one or two team members to write up briefs that are read aloud at the meeting. It sounds silly, but it’s effective. Make sure presenter(s) not only identify issues in their briefs but propose solutions for discussion, focusing the group. Throwing in issue in the air and hoping an open brainstorm can solve it is rarely effective.
(Link: Stealth Meeting Facilitation from the Rank-and-File – The Conversation – Harvard Business Review)