You Can’t Get People on the Same Page if You Can’t Get Them in the Same Room
By Cynthia Owens , Senior Consultant
In today’s complex, global organizations, it seems impossible to get people in one place at the same time. And yet, given the pace and demands of business today, leaving big decisions to an email thread or a 70-page presentation deck seems nuts.
What are the chances that everyone on a conference call clearly understands a new process or a marketing initiative because they’re fully engaged in it rather than checking their email or playing games on their phone?
As challenging as is it to organize everyone’s schedules, it’s more important than ever to get people in the same room to get them on the same page.
Why?
- Meeting face-to-face and engaging in complex conversations builds trust.
- Co-creating solutions with the whole team helps people understand and empathize with different perspectives.
- Bringing people together helps build alignment on decisions and solutions.
- Getting people to design solutions together creates advocates that will accelerate change.
- Discovery sessions are unique and captivating.
What Kinds of Issues Are Worth the Effort?
Invite them to do more than listen and fall asleep in presentations. Make the effort to get people in the same room; bring them together to solve problems and drive clarity. This is a chance for leaders to listen, learn, and ask:
- Design a better process
- Align on a vision to guide your teams
- Clarify your strategy
- Create a better customer experience
- Clarify your culture
Who Needs to be There?
The most successful sessions include participants from different teams with different talents, experiences, and perspectives.
Crucial to designing the right solution is assembling a group including people who
- know and understand the content well
- know and understand the audience well
- will be decision makers
The Key?
Intent.
People want to feel they are genuinely part of the solution. They want to be heard, and they want to understand, so invite them with the intention of letting them find the best answer.
