All right, we're back. And we are at the day of the actual collaborative event. So we are ready to head in. So the first things you need to do today, you need to start with an open mindset. You are here because you want to hear new ideas. You appreciate diversity of thought.

And you might hear some ideas that are new are not what you've heard before, are not the status quo. Don't be defensive. People are here to share their ideas. And you're here to offer praise, not empty praise, but you want to keep these thoughts flowing. This is not an attack on you, just because they may have some ideas that aren't yours. So just have a good day.

Be relaxed, be calm, be accepting. You want to make sure that you're not offering empty Praise but you also want to make sure that you are not shooting people down. Because if you shoot someone down and you know say oh corporate will never let us go for that, for example, you not only have shot that person down, you are going to impact everybody else's ability and feeling of confidence in you to share their ideas. So now you've just stifled everyone's creativity by shooting down one person. So it's really important to be offering that praise when you can. And again, just be really open.

You want to make sure you're doing what you can be doing to have a good day yourself. So I know personally if I am running behind, just about nothing frazzles me more. So schedule 10 minutes if you're like that schedule, 10 minutes, half an hour or whatever you need before this event, just for yourself. Stretch your legs, go you know for a little walk eat a snack hungry people are never happy people, we all know this. So I have a snack beforehand, make sure you have your water with you. And one of the things I like to do, excuse me, one of the things I like to do if I'm really having a tough time is to realize what the realistic worst case scenario is for this event.

Usually it does not involve the world imploding. Usually the worst case scenario from this event would be that nothing productive happened. And if that is your worst case scenario, then you're literally no worse off. At the end of this event, even if everything goes terribly, then you are right now. And so that should help put you at ease that you really can't mess this up. It's all going to be okay.

And we're just here to hear some ideas and to brainstorm and we know that not everything's going to work, but that's kind of the point. You have two or three big jobs, one to stay Positive yourself for this day have an open mindset. Number two, you have to keep this meeting on track. And number three, you need to draw the most out of people that you can. We'll talk about drawing the most out of people in the next lecture. But we'll talk about number two right now.

Because keeping people on track can be a really, really tricky job, especially if you're not in person. When you're in person, you have your body there to use and you, you can physically insert yourself, you can put your hand up and you have all those tools at your discretion. If you're using a video conference, then you have sort of those tools available to you. If you are only on a phone or you're only on a webinar where you're sharing screens and not your faces, then you are a little bit more at a disadvantage with that. So I have some prompts that you can use their with a file with this lecture so you can also print them out and just have them They're for you. So some of those ideas are just to stop and say, hey, let's get back on topic.

Directness is usually the best course of action. You can also say, you know, great idea. I'll make a note of that. And let's come back to it. And then redirect to that conversation back to the question at hand. You can also say something to people like, wow, you sound really passionate about that idea.

I'd love to hear more. Why don't you write up something and share it with the team on Monday. So that way, you've given the person validation. They know that their idea is important, but they'll stop monopolizing your time, so you can move on and focus. If things are taking a really negative bend you again, just directness you can say, Let's stay positive guys, and just move that conversation back. I think you'll be surprised how easy it is with a couple prompts.

To be able to keep this focused, I know that inserting yourself into these conversations and again, directing that conversation into a positive, you know, productive collaborative event is maybe the most stressful part of the managers job, but you can do it and you can be prepared. And you can be empowered to do this with a couple more of these prompts. You can also say, if somebody is really getting off topic and maybe something more personal, or they're venting, something like you know, I hear what you're saying, but let's talk about that one on one later. The really important part here is to follow up on some of these things. If you've said, let's talk about that one on one later, or I'm going to make a note and we'll follow up on that. You better follow up so you really better be putting that in your calendar, or legitimately making a note about this.

You can also redirect by saying something like how does that relate to, you know, the question or the problem. at hand, and that might help people get back on track. If you're hearing a lot of conversation about topic, why, when you're trying to address topic x, you might need to consider if the question that you're collaborating about needs to be changed. Maybe the question itself isn't the right question. So you can really go back to the drawing board, and throw that back to the team, because maybe their perspective is different. Actually, I'm gonna restate that I'm positive, their perspective is different than yours, because that's why you brought them here.

So look at all of those prompts, practice them, if you are at all nervous, you know, practice them in a mirror, practice them on a friend or a spouse, on a co worker until you feel comfortable saying them in a way that is your language. So if you're not gonna say, Oh, I hear what you're saying, because that feels to therapists to you. I'm super comfortable saying things like that, but maybe you're Or not. And so maybe you can translate that into your own language so that it sounds natural and comfortable for you. So, go to that handout. practice those, be prepared and give yourself some time to relax beforehand and this collaborative event is going to be fantastic.