How to Have a Good Day: Harness the Power of Behavioral Science to Transform Your Working Life pdfdrive com

IMPROVING THE DISCUSSION
Avoiding Groupthink
It can feel great to reach quick agreement. But if you’re talking about something
important and there’s no challenge in the room, you’re probably missing part of
the picture. Ask some of these questions to improve the group’s thinking:
“If we had to pick holes in this, where would they be?”
“If Person X were here, criticizing our idea, what would they say—and what
would we need to do to reassure them?”
“Let’s project forward and assume things have gone badly wrong. What did
we miss?”
“Who’s going to be affected by our plans? What will they worry about?”
“If we played devil’s advocate, what would be the other side of the
argument?”
Reaching Closure
You may have the opposite problem, where there’s nothing anyone agrees on.
Reduce the temperature in the room by doing this:
Clarify what you can all agree on. That promotes a sense of in-group and
calms people’s instinctive threat response.
Ask if it’s possible to agree to disagree on the rest. The answer might be yes,
if it’s clear that you already agree on the things that matter.
If not: Do your best to summarize each position objectively, doing justice to
each idea. Ask what would have to be true for each position to be the best
one. Decide together on the process for getting evidence to test each position.
If the issue is less about disagreement and more about lack of focus, create a
“parking lot” for off-topic ideas or issues that surface during the conversation. It
helps everyone feel heard while focusing people’s attention on the meeting’s real
priorities. Make a visible list on a flip chart, whiteboard, or notepad.

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HANDLING CHALLENGING BEHAVIOR
If people are being annoying, remember that they’re probably feeling threatened
by one of the common triggers: exclusion, unfairness, feeling unappreciated, a
lack of autonomy, lack of competence, a threat to their values, or uncertainty. If
they didn’t get enough sleep or are physically exhausted, their sensitivity to all
these sorts of “threats” will also be heightened. To improve the situation, ask
yourself:
What exactly are they doing or saying? (Just observe the facts.) 
What
could be triggering those actions—what need of theirs might not be getting
met?
How can you reduce that “threat” by meeting that need more fully? For
example, even if you’re not in the chair, you can help them feel included by
expressing interest in their views, and you can make them feel heard and
respected by referring back to something they’ve said.
WRAPPING UP
Always allow a moment to recap key decisions or reflect on the insights gained
from the meeting, and agree on steps that each person will take. If you can, also
do some kind of positive roundup. You can combine it with a “next steps”
summary from each person, by asking everyone to say (a) one thing they were
interested or inspired to hear in the meeting, and (b) what they’re committed to
doing, by when.