Three magical pivot phrases to arrest a drifting videoconference

Nothing reveals suboptimal meeting practices and behaviors quite like entire organizations going to videoconferencing, really quickly. People who may never have put much thought into videoconferencing are discovering its power, thanks to COVID-19. (Org-wide videoconferencing is kind of amazing, it turns out!) But the meeting tendencies that most of us are quietly resigned to in the traditional setting can seem like fresh hell when taken to the screen.

Before becoming a COO, I was a professional strategic-planning facilitator, among other things. I was a stickler for time discipline during planning sessions, so I learned tricks for how to run a tight meeting. Suddenly, now that I’m spending my days in videoconference, some of those tricks are finding fresh use. There are a handful of key pivot phrases that are almost magical for arresting a meeting that’s drifting off into Randomville:

1. “That topic seems to warrant more time and focused attention…” The genius of this simple pivot phrase is that it gives the person who is causing the conversation drift a compliment, validates their desire to be heard, and escalates the deferred topic. As the precursor to the suggestion that the topic be taken offline, everybody wins: the concerned conversation drifter, everyone in the meeting, and the organization. Who can use…