Making Client Meetings More Collaborative

I made a mistake in my first client meeting. I only listened to the loudest voice in the room. Later, a quiet team member pulled me aside: "You missed the real problem." She was right. This changed my entire approach to leadership: •Every perspective matters •The best solutions often come from unexpected voices •True innovation needs all voices, not just the loudest In project management, I've learned: The front-line team often sees what executives miss The new hire spots gaps veterans overlook The quiet ones hold golden insights 3 practices that transformed my teams: 1. Start meetings with: "What are we not seeing?" 2. Create space for the quiet voices first 3. Ask "What would you do differently?" Because real growth happens when: •We challenge our assumptions •We listen more than we speak •We value every perspective Your next breakthrough might be sitting in that team member you haven't heard from yet. 💡What insight have you gained from an unexpected source? ➕ Follow me for more on inclusive leadership and creating impact Olga Alcaraz

Early in my project management career: Kickoff meetings felt like one-sided lectures with me laying everything out. Now: They are a two-way dialogue. Here's how I transformed kickoff meetings to make them more interactive: Pre-Meeting Prep: I ask team members to come up with lessons learned from other projects that could impact this one. Strengths & Support: I ask team members to share what they expect to contribute to the project and what they need from others to be successful. Room to Grow: I state from the onset that not everything is clearly defined yet, and that's normal at the beginning. Questions Upfront: I leave dedicated time for questions and track them in a log for future reference. What are your key strategies for fostering collaboration in kickoff calls? Join the conversation in the comments below. #leadership #collaboration #communication #projectmanagement

“I’ll put the fish in a barrel. You just shoot.” These were the exact words I said to my client, who was facing a challenging assignment: Providing a Fortune 500 CPG brand with an analysis of large volumes of data on brand health and public sentiment. My client was headed in the wrong direction… Focusing on their technical expertise with data analysis…Instead of providing straightforward conclusions on what the data meant. At the end of the day, drawing conclusions and providing actionable advice are what matter the most. Seeing how the sausage is made is often just a sideshow. In this case, my client was using machine learning to analyze public opinion and brand health. They had put together a voluminous presentation using a traditional requirements gathering method. I took the opposite approach. I gathered the sales, legal, and public relations and communications departments from the CPG brand in one room and began to facilitate a meeting. I realized that a consultative and collaborative approach to understanding the client’s needs would be far more effective… And by including multiple departments, I facilitated a half-day workshop that avoided the risk of multiple individuals working within their own silos in the organization. This collaborative approach enabled the CPG brand to fully explore the complete scope of the project and beyond and allowed members of the organization to share their thoughts in a constructive manner to create a project everyone signed off on. This is functional consulting at its best. So, instead of getting lost in data, collaboration created a better outcome.