Microsoft 365 For Dummies

Chapter 5

Rocking Your Meeting Like a Boss

IN THIS CHAPTER

Making informed decisions about your meeting with Meeting Insights

Fostering an inclusive culture using the meeting tools

Continuing the collaboration after the meeting

Many years ago, I met with several stressed-out people desperately trying to keep on track a project that was about to go off the rails. I was new to the project, so in this first meeting I mostly observed the dynamics of the group. While everyone else scrambled, eagerly attempting to demonstrate that nothing going wrong was their fault, one person in the room appeared completely at ease. Secretly, I called him Mr. Cool. Mr. Cool took notes while the other team members talked with an air of defensiveness.

Occasionally, Mr. Cool asked a question or asked a speaker to repeat something or expand on an explanation. Once he stopped a team member who was clearly nervous and asked that person to “go back a couple slides and run that by us again,” which clearly increased the presenter’s anxiety.

As it turns out, Mr. Cool was the boss and the team was clearly afraid of him. It became obvious that the team members were too afraid to be candid about the problems with ...