Thrive: The Facilitator’s Guide to Radically Inclusive Meetings

At the heart of this book are tools that allow you to run meetings that truly provide space and voice to every meeting participant. It sets aside notions of who has ideas that matter and opens the floor for the talents, gifts, skills, and imagination of every person to rise in service to your organization or initiative. We have used the strategies in this book in meetings with parties that have a long history of contentious relationships and seen the magic unfold--everyone contributing, having fun, sharing pressure points and strengths. We also use these strategies in like-minded work groups and there is a level of creativity that unfolds that I have rarely seen achieved. The book is written in an engaging style, with stories and real examples that you can apply to adjacent industries or social movements. If you've read this far you are taking too long....Buy Now, friend. Buy Now.

I like reading the tips. Some of the pages were not in uniform print. Maybe self published book needed more edits.

Great resource.

As the world shifted to virtual meetings, I found myself exhausted and drained (more so than usual) before the end of every work day. COVID-19, political drama, and coping with new scopes of work had a lot to do with my declining energy levels, but Dr. Smutny's book made me realize poorly run virtual meetings were impacting me more than I could imagine. My team's meetings went from idea-filled and energetic to quiet faces on a screen (if people even had their cameras on). Thrive gives REAL tips for ensuring meetings have true participation. Too often organizations, communities, schools, etc. claim they engaged everyone and held meetings to get feedback from all stakeholders when they actually just scheduled a meeting (most likely at an inconvenient time), asked general/vague questions, and typed up what they heard. This format works for a select group of people but it is probably leaving out important perspectives. As a Type A personality, I can get down to business too quickly and focus too much on achieving deliverables. Dr. Smutny provides context and examples for why that approach doesn't work for all people. Thrive made it clear to me why staff weren't as excited as me for new projects, even after I thought I'd gotten their feedback. Now when I see meeting agendas, I have a good sense of how the meeting will go - especially in a virtual setting. Thrive has something to teach you, even if you think you know everything there is to know about facilitating meetings.

Thrive is for anyone looking to be a better facilitator, meeting organizer, and communicator. From preparing a meeting to creating & maintaining an inclusive environment to conducting productive meetings, there are so many things a facilitator needs to consider. This book is full of practical advice and examples, and I look forward to applying them!Disclaimer: I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

I was able to get a copy of this book directly from the author and recently read it. Thinking back on my years as a project manager, I wish I had had a copy of it then! It gives really useful guidelines and tips for ways to lead successful meetings. I would like to have seen even more examples of icebreakers, specifically keeping in mind how to facilitate those by keeping introverted people in mind. If you're looking for guidance on how to lead meetings, you should check this book out.

As a visually impaired inclusive planner, I think this book will help to include disability population to the meetings. Many tips to consider for the minority population to participate for activities and events.

Having led and survived meetings of all types and purposes (or lack of purpose) in churches, schools, and hospitals, for years, I found Thrive to be an incredibly useful source of wisdom for what to do right and how to do better. Dr. Smutny's guide provides much-needed perspective, as well as tons of practical strategies for walking the talk of equality and inclusion. If you care about living for the common good, here is a roadmap.Kent Higgins, PhD, Psychologist, Baystate Medical Center, Springfield, Massachusetts.