Founders – before having a strategy meeting with your team, try to provide the right context and expectations.
There are three types of discussions leaders can have with their team:
Discussion – “Let’s talk about this. Before we leave this meeting, we will have a conclusion and action items”
Brainstorming – “We’re intentionally NOT trying to make a conclusion here because no one (including myself) has much clue yet”
Mandate – “I don’t care what we discuss, but as the leader I want XYZ. Fight me if you don’t agree”
The key is to specify the purpose upfront. For example:
“Hi guys – today let’s talk about XYZ. By the way, I want to make sure this is a brainstorming meeting. There’s no dumb idea, we’re not going to make any conclusion today. Do not try to jump to any conclusion today.”
Not clearly specifying the nature of the meeting can lead to unwanted results. For example:
CEO says “Should we do XYZ?” as a pure question – she’s unsure, she just wants to gauge the room. Next she finds the team dropping everything to focus on XYZ. Ask why, and the team says “You said we should do XYZ.”
You don’t want this and defining the specific nature of the meeting upfront always helps.