Book Summary — “Thrive”

“THRIVE — The Facilitator’s Guide to Radically Inclusive Meetings”

Why Thrive? The title interested me to learn about how to engage every participant in every meeting in other words how to practice equality and inclusion in meetings.

About author: Dr. Mark Sumtny worked in the fields of homeless services, affordable housing, transportation services & has degree from Harvard Divinity School and he is a professional facilitator.

Summary:

Qualities you find in a good facilitator:

• Cheers and encourages others to speak.
• Let others shine.
• “LISTEN”
• Exudes confidence and calm authority. Being mindful (it helps find emotional and spiritual center) and patient.
• Have fun & don’t be too serious.

How to improve listening skills:

• Paraphrase : a) You are saying that b) What I hear you saying c) If I hear you right, you are d) Let me say what I ‘m hearing
• Engage by asking creative questions
• Do not use absolutes E.g: “Never” ,”Must”
• Perception check in team meetings by stating — “Confused where we are heading, does anyone want to recap where we are?”
• Fogging: Naming the truth in other person’s criticism, this way you only agree what is true for you avoid the fight backs.

Tips to be more inclusive in meetings:

• As a facilitator seek perspectives from all participants , as a participant use the tool Mutual Invitation. It can be done by stating “Let’s listen from some one who hasn’t spoken” or “ simply ask a colleague whom you know can add different perspective.”
• To drive collective actions: Ask questions around “Why do you care about the current situation?” ,”deeper purpose / big why”, “dilemmas/opportunities” , “assumptions we need to challenge”
• To create forward moment (in situations like retros): Ask questions “what needs our immediate attention”, ”how can we support each other in taking actions? ”, “What it would take to create change”

Thumb rules of principled negotiation:

• Detach people from problem
• Focus on interests / key objectives not positions
• Generate possibilities before deciding
• Result is based on objective criteria

Also many diverse topics were covered about Facilitating strategic plans, Difficult meetings, Org changes, Multilingual meetings , Culturally diverse meetings etc along with Preparing for meeting, Taking notes, Wrapping up .

I recommend this book for all the leaders who would like to explore on how to effectively organize or participate in the meetings.

You can purchase the book Thrive from Amazon.