We have so many meetings to make decisions where we don’t have the right people in the room. Although we can’t always get everyone to a meeting, we can still get those voices into the conversation. Some of the voices we miss are customers, suppliers, senior executives, or other functions.
One way to expand the voices in your meeting is to ask those in attendance to speak for those who aren’t there. For example, someone can take on the role of the customer and share what the customer might say. Maybe have someone take on the role of the executive staff and interject what they might contribute. This expands the collective mind in the meeting, but also expands people’s focus frames. It moves us out of thinking only from our own seat, to start considering where others might come from.