Most teams tend not to use their time together effectively.

The best technique we’ve found to help teams improve the effectiveness of their meetings is ‘diamond thinking.’ It’s incredibly simple and it tends to have an immediate impact.

It’s a technique we originally took from Crew Resource Management training in Aviation. In any problem solving conversation, they apply a rule of thumb that says at least 50% of the time in the conversation should be focused ‘what can we do.’ This is all about ‘opening up the diamond’, getting ideas and insights from as many people as possible.

However, the leader of the conversation recognises the importance of closing the diamond. Making a call on what they’re going to do.

If you share this model with your team, people will immediately recognise what they need to work on. Some conversations fail to open up the diamond enough. As leaders we need to mine for different views and constructive debate.

Even more common is a recognition that the team is not been effective in closing the diamond. Making a call, and ensuring everyone is clear on what we’re agreeing and who is going to do what.

Intel call this approach ‘Disagree and Commit.’  They recognise that people are generally much more willing to commit to a course of action they don’t agree with, if they feel they’ve had an opportunity to disagree and that their view has been genuinely explored.

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