Vote then discuss

If in any meeting the higher in rank talks first, the others will follow, and this kills initiative and creativity.

Next time you have a meeting with a team, ask the person in charge to follow this process:

  1. ask a question
  2. have everyone vote secretly (write on a paper) their answers
  3. reveal all the answer and have a discussion

For example:

  1. Are we ready to ship the product? (open questions are better, but for the sake of making a simple example I go against my own rules)
  2. People write their answers
  3. If the answers are different then have a chat, possibly with the leader staying silent, unless a final word is needed.

à bientôt

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