Congratulations on mastering one-on-one executive conversations! Now let's level up to the ultimate challenge: facilitating productive strategic business meetings and high-stakes stakeholder discussions.
These meetings require different skills than individual talks. Instead of managing one executive's reactions, you're orchestrating multiple senior leaders, competing priorities, and complex organizational dynamics simultaneously.
Engagement Message
What's one challenge you face when trying to lead productive strategic planning sessions?
Here's why these meetings are trickier: individual insecurities get amplified when executives gather. Senior leaders worry about appearing uninformed, being challenged publicly, or having their departmental interests questioned in front of peers.
This creates a perfect storm where the most assertive voices dominate while valuable insights from more strategic thinkers get lost.
Engagement Message
During your last board meeting, who spoke most, and why do you think others stayed quiet?
Your role as facilitator is creating an environment where every stakeholder feels safe to contribute authentically. This means establishing ground rules, modeling vulnerability, and actively managing boardroom dynamics.
Unlike individual conversations, you need to balance multiple competing interests and keep strategic discussions focused while remaining inclusive.
Engagement Message
What would make you feel safer sharing honestly in a strategic planning meeting?
The participation challenge: getting balanced input from all stakeholders. Some executives process externally and speak quickly, while others need time to analyze before sharing their strategic perspective.
Your job is slowing down the quick processors and drawing out the analytical thinkers without putting anyone on the spot.
Engagement Message
Name one technique you could try to get quieter board members more involved.
