Wait 10s to Be a Better Facilitator

I learned a neat tip from my colleague David Wire about a month ago: at the end of a meeting I’m facilitating and asking “Any questions?” … wait a full 10s before calling it done.

Sometimes it takes folks a moment to put their words together. Ending the meeting too quickly doesn’t give them that chance, and sometimes they won’t follow up with their question after.

I decided to try this and started by setting a calendar reminder 2x a week during standup. At first, as David warned me, the silence felt pretty uncomfortable. I stuck with it, and by the third session, I was already rewarded with a question from one of my team members.

Pretty soon after integrating the 10s technique into my own meetings, I experienced the downside of another facilitator not using this technique. When the facilitator asked “Anything else?”, I realized I did have something else. A red flag was popping up for me. A risk. It was taking me a moment to find the words, especially since my red flag was about to turn the previously-aligned meeting conclusion on its head. The moment of waiting passed, the facilitator ended the meeting before I had a chance to get my words out.

With the (relatively) fast feedback from this technique, the silence feels less uncomfortable and more worth it. Thanks, David!

#thoughtdiversity