On Workshops

This meme hurts because it's true.

There's a thin line between guiding people and running workshops. And to be honest, most of us have already done it. A lot of the time.

Workshops are awesome. We want to be on the same page, understand each other, get everyone on board and make decisions that everyone can agree on.

We get people together, open a Miro board and say, "Let's work together." Workshops are great but they can be a delay tactic when decisions are hard or a way to spread accountability.

As leaders, we're always trying to find the right balance...too much inclusion makes teams slow and tired. Too much decisiveness makes teams disengaged.

The skill is knowing when to hold a workshop, send a memo or just make a decision.

A quick gut check I do is to ask myself the following before setting up a workshop:

• Before setting up a workshop, I ask myself: Is this a discovery problem or a decision problem?
• Do we really need to explore this or am I just putting off making a choice because it hurts?

Workshops are helpful but like any tool they become noise if used too much.