We've been doing annual planning for 2021.
The meetings are going well. There is a lot of back-and-forth idea sharing, negotiating, and priority setting.
Nonetheless, I had a sneaking suspicion that sometimes what seemed like a dialogue, was really multiple monologues.
The reason for the disconnect (or misconnect) was that the participants had fundamental beliefs, at a higher level than we were discussing, that were at odds with each other.
I shot this video to explain how to fix that issue.
The short answer is to chunk high enough that you truly start from a place of agreement. Exploring distinctions from there is relatively easy.
I'll add one more concept for good measure ... Start with the end in mind. Alignment happens in stages. Before you can truly get alignment on what to do next, you have to get agreement and alignment about where you are and where you want to go.
With that said, another important component of meaningful communication is a shared understanding of common language. Words can mean different things to different people. Simply agreeing on a "word" is different than agreeing on a common meaning.
To summarize these concepts:
- Make sure you have a common language
- Begin with the end in mind
- Start with the highest level of agreement
- Make distinctions from there
Hope that helps.
