I recently posted 2 different posts to the Skoolers main chat. One failed One blew up Can you guess what the difference was? The one that bombed was opinion based. The one that blew up was a survey. The point is not going viral. The point is seeing how engagement works. And how we gather data quickly. Opinions gather data at a fraction of the rate as questions, unless you're opinion is highly controversial... but then the data is skewed. How many times have you tried gathering data by waving your opinion around? Probably more than you realize. I challenge you to ask more questions while keeping your opinion in reserve. Then you'll find out what you need and probably so much more 😄

What?! Who wants more meetings? Here me out. I've been around the block as a project manager. Let me tell you... the team is wasting more time than you know just thinking about: Who do I talk to? What details am I missing? What's a workable plan? What if I'm wrong? When I check on people, the overwhelming majority say some version of "I'm stuck". What can we do as facilitative leaders? ✅ Call a planning meeting early. ✅ Facilitate meetings before milestones to do prep. ✅ Run quick problem solving sessions to ensure progress. Yes, more meetings. But, results become accelerated. What's stopping you from running tactical meetings more often?

If you find yourself coordinating events and projects because nobody else is either doing it well or wants to do it... Then you might be a facilitator. Here's the one thing tho: You have to coordinate with resolve 🫡 AND heart ❤️. All resolve means people think you're a jerk. All heart means constant change and no progress. Been there? Feel free to share!

Ever noticed how hard it is for some people to be retrospective? Even professional environments like engineering isn't void of static thinking. Here's a win I had recently after encountering some pretty,,, stubborn attitudes. I ran a hot Wash (or retrospective) this week. Before the session, it felt like pulling teeth. Plenty of high emotions. What I had to keep in mind was that this was new for the team. In the past, such gatherings were only for disasters. Otherwise, they'd go back to business as usual. Nothing to do but move on to the next task. So, I went into the retrospective knowing they needed encouragement, and to reset their expectations to a lower stress level. I created ground rules based on teamwork and encouragement. I maintained a target attitude as a model for them. Yet, I was also firm in each person owning their part in improvement AND success. And you know what? They did just fine. They walked away with a new vision for the future. They bonded around common issues and a plan to overcome them. When have you run a meeting or other event where you could feel the tension before starting?

Here's where I've noticed facilitators in technical spaces get it wrong: Injecting their opinions. It's hard to leave your expert opinion by the wayside. I get it. But you're there to PULL thoughts, not push them. Where's this tendency come from? From being told we're supposed to know the answer. OR Only answers get rewarded. We don't want to feel inferior, so we add our opinions to the mix OR we overemphasize the opinion of "experts" in the room. This ignores or straight shuts down valid thoughts from at least half the room most days. I've seen it. 👉 Here's the thing: Everyone else can see it and doesn't like it! If you're facilitating with expertise bias, my recommendation is to use the TWO HAT METHOD. One hat - Facilitator Two hat - Expert Take one off to use the other. BE CLEAR about when you change hats. You'll see better engagement and you'll still feel heard.