In Leadership Core, I’m tackling everyday leadership challenges with HIIT‑style intervals: short, focused practices you can run between meetings to strengthen how you lead.
Story: Invite people into the conversation
You head into a meeting totally prepared. You’ve got updates to share and next steps that will really streamline the work your team has been tackling with limited success. But a few minutes into your “speech,” you realize you’ve lost your people. They’ve checked out.
A head of operations I worked with recognized this pattern. As she unpacked how she was losing the room, she suddenly stopped and said:
“I went right to the heart of the solution I believed would fix their problem without asking them where they felt things weren’t working.”
The work was important, but she hadn’t invited anyone into the conversation.
To get them engaged, she still came ready to share her thoughts, but with a new approach. She started opening her meetings with a question: “What do you need most from this time?”
Interval: Start with a single question
Before your next 1:1 or meeting, consider how using an intentional question might jump‑start the conversation instead of an update.
Here are some ideas:
“Before we get into the details, what’s one thing on your mind I should know?”
“What would make this 30 minutes well spent for you?”
“What’s the most important thing we should leave with today?”
Use these or any open-ended questions you believe will create an opportunity for your team to participate in tackling challenging situations.
Reflection: How did starting with a question change what people shared, and how all of you engaged?
These story/interval/reflection sets are designed as short, high-intensity reps you can practice between meetings. Use them at the pace that fits in your work and life.
