In this week's newsletter

• Why I downloaded an app I swore I’d never use and what it taught me about meeting prep
• Q&A: I want to use a warm-up question, but that won’t work in my company culture. What can I do?
• Warm-up and check-out questions you can use this week
• Weekly bird break

A baby was born in my extended family last year. I wanted updates and I was not getting them frequently. I asked more directly. I suggested approaches that worked with other friends and family (apps and shared albums), but photos were still slow to come.

Then I paid attention to what was already working. Updates were flowing every day on Snapchat, an app more popular with people younger than I. I cringed and then I downloaded it…and now I’m in better touch with my family than ever.

I don’t know about you, but I’ve gotten similarly frustrated over meeting prep before:

• Why didn’t anyone read the pre-work?
• I asked for agenda items by Friday. Why didn’t anyone reply?
• The project tracker should be updated before our meeting. Why is it blank?
• Why isn’t anyone prepared to speak to their data in this meeting?

This is when I take a deep breath and channel my inner Brené Brown and remind myself: “I’m here to get it right, not be right.”

What is the purpose behind my ask?

What might be getting in the way?

How might I meet people where they already are?

Examples I’ve seen work:

• Replace a project tracker with a biweekly automated Slack thread that auto-asks the team to share accomplishments and priorities. Skim together at the start of the meeting and open it up for Q&A.
• Instead of expecting people to review a dashboard in advance, save filtered dashboard views for each team member and drop quick links with their names directly into the agenda for easy reference.
• Crowdsource agenda items in the moment and ask people to self-rate urgency and importance on a clear scale.
• Swap pre-reading for a voice memo or AI-generated audio overview. Encourage listening at 2x speed on a walk.

Pay attention to where you're thinking "they should..." and ask yourself

Maybe you'll find your team's version of what Snapchat did for my family.

Meeting Minute

​Warm-up question​

If you want to meet people where they are, you need to know where they are! This question can help team members get a better sense of each other's preferences. If everyone says reading and no one says podcasts, you may not want to send a podcast as pre-work.

​Check-out question​

Take advantage of a captive audience to start planning next week’s agenda, instead of asking people to contribute asynchronously and getting crickets in return.

Q: I want to use a warm-up question, but that won’t work in my company culture, what can I do?

A: First, let’s reframe. The purpose of a warm-up question isn’t to be fun (though it can be). It’s to give everyone a low-stakes way to participate early, priming them for engagement later in the meeting. When you think of it that way, there are more ways to introduce a warm-up question than you might expect.

Ease in casually. Show up a minute early and ask the first attendees your warm-up question as small talk. Keep asking as others join. No one needs to know it was planned or that you're intentionally getting everyone to answer.

Make it business-critical. Instead of framing it as an icebreaker before the “real meeting” begins, choose a question that directly ties to the work. For example: “What’s one thing on your plate this week that might affect what we’re discussing today?” That’s a warm-up question. It just doesn’t sound like one. Check out these Strategic Warm-Up Questions for more ideas.

Lower the barrier in virtual meetings. Instead of having everyone speak, ask for everyone to contribute – either type in the chat or come off mute.

The key is to keep the “why” front and center when you introduce this practice to your meetings.

Goals: include every voice early and ground everyone in this meeting.

How you do that can look completely different depending on your team dynamics.