You know your meetings aren't working, but you fear that starting with an ice-breaker or using breakout groups and emoji polls would get you a combination of laughter and crickets. If that sounds like your situation, this is for you. I'll break down approachable ways to bring engaging meeting tactics into the real world of your organization's culture.

Key Takeaways

• Start small and with one new tactic at a time: focus on shifts that feel natural and achievable in your current environment.
• Adjust your language and style to meet your teammates where they are: take a less formal approach that is aligned both with the "why" behind the new meeting facilitation technique and with your current cultural norms.
• Practice intentional personal leadership: Even if your organization isn't ready for change, you can use meetings to refine your own skills and impact.

Not a common practice to share a meeting objective & agenda?

Every productive meeting starts with a clear purpose. But what if your workplace isn't ready for the formality of starting with, "Here are the objectives for today's meeting"? There are still subtle ways to set the tone.

If you're leading the meeting, try saying something like, "We're here to talk about X, and I'm hoping we walk out of this meeting with Y." This frames the purpose without feeling overly structured.

If someone else scheduled the meeting, don't hesitate to seek clarity. Try saying, ****"Hey, I'm prepping for the call later this week. My understanding is we're coming together to talk about X and aim to leave with Y. Anything else on your mind?"

Personal objectives: even if you don't get a response or you expect things to go off the rails when you get into the room, you can set personal objectives for yourself. For example:

• I can use this as an opportunity to practice speaking up more assertively, active listening, being fully present and not multi-tasking, etc.
• This is an opportunity to build a stronger relationship with people on another team
• I can use this opportunity to learn more about another team's priorities
• I can observe my direct report in action and focus on giving them feedback after the fact

Are you afraid starting with a warm-up question will make people hang up on you?

Let's reframe it. The purpose of a warm-up question is to give everyone a low-stakes way to participate early on, priming them for engagement later in the meeting.

If you're not sure your team is ready for a structured approach, try easing in organically. For example:

• Show up early and ask the first attendees your warm-up question casually
• Continue asking others as they join, making it feel like small talk rather than a formal exercise

Alternatively, check out this list of Strategic Warm-Up Questions, and frame answering one of them as a business critical part of the meeting, not merely an icebreaker before the real meeting begins.

Does the phrase "let's put it in the parking lot" make you shudder?