Managers and employees spend much of their time in discussions, but too often conversations bog down in an endless series of unproductive meetings in which the usual suspects cover the same ground without making progress. Frustration mounts as participants “spin their wheels” or “talk in circles.” This frustration often occurs when managers lead the wrong kinds of discussions at the wrong time in the wrong way.
My last post introduced the agility loop as a simple framework to helm managers and employees structure and lead discussions in a more effective manner. The first step in structuring and leading discussions through the agility loop consists of deciding which discussion to have when, who should be involved, and how to lead these conversations. The following questions can help managers improve their discussions.
1. What are we talking about? This simple question often surfaces a disturbing lack of focus about the objective of a discussion. Discussions, particularly those that take place in large groups, often derail when participants pursue multiple strands simultaneously and end up talking past one another. To focus their brainstorming discussions, the design firm IDEO enforces a rule that a team can only discuss one idea at a time.
2. Are the right people in the room? Conversations often fail before they begin, when team leaders fail to bring
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Lucy Kellaway, FT columnist and associate editor, offers her solution to your workplace problems in a column in the Financial Times. In the 
