Client Question: “I have some people on my team that struggle with being succinct. I want everyone on my team to be heard, but how do I ensure that we can get through a meeting on time?”
This can definitely be a challenge because some people are verbal processors and actually talk as they are thinking about it. This is why it can go on for longer than they may intend and they can be viewed as someone who rambles on. Helping them learn how to think about what they want to share prior to sharing it is a skill that they would benefit them. As they go up the ladder, they need to be more succinct and they will get to practice this skill and improve before they reach the higher levels.
As the facilitator of the discussion, you will also need to be good at cutting the conversation off when needed. There are various ways to do this:
- Set the expectations up front of how long people will get to share information and that you will have to keep to the schedule. You can say something like “I’m sorry to have to cut you off, but you have gone over your allotted time and we need to give everyone a chance to speak. We can come back to you if there is time at the end of the meeting or capture your concern.”
- Make a comment like “we need to keep moving so everyone gets a chance to speak” if people are going on too long
- If people start going off on a tangent, then you will need to bring them back to the topic of discussion. You can say something like “let’s bring this back the conversation back to the agenda and talk about that topic offline after the meeting.”
- You can ask if you “can put their concerns on a follow up list so it doesn’t get lost” if people are sharing too much.
- You can suggest ways to limit the information that they share. For example: “can you give me one quick example of where this is occurring?”
Facilitating conversations with a large group is a good skill for a leader to have. Good facilitators make sure everyone feels heard, that everyone gets a chance to participate and that you keep things moving to accomplish the purpose of the meeting without making people feel like you shut them down.