Getting unprepared teams to open up

[syd-arthur21]

I had a workshop yesterday with people from marketing, ops, and IT. Some thought it was just a quick update, not a session where they needed to help. Their managers didn't explain the goal, so the group was quiet and unsure what to do.

I split them into small groups and asked each one to share what a good result would look like for them. That got the conversation going and gave me useful info. How do you get teams involved when they show up unprepared?

 

[sweet kiwi]

I think you did good to get things moving. I've also seen a very direct and plain question. Instead of jumping right into the agenda, you can ask everyone to state their understanding of why they are there. Like a simple round robin or a quick poll. Getting those different perspectives out in the open helps everyone see where the confusion is and allows you to clarify the purpose and expected outcome for the day. Once everyone is on the same page you can move forward with more confidence knowing the whole group is aligned on the reason for the meeting.