The other day I was asking my opinion about managers attending team meetings. To which I gave my favourite consultant answer: “well … it depends.”

Let’s say, for example, you’ll be talking about a sensitive topic, such as a recent failure by the team. Then, the team might benefit by talking without managers being present at first.

However, don’t lose sight of the fact managers play an essential role for your team. So, if you start with a closed-door discussion, you might want to follow up with the manager by asking the team to share the outcomes of their conversation.

Doing this allows team members to feel safe enough to talk openly. Yet, when summarizing to the manager, it allows the comments to come from the team without singling anyone out.

However, you may feel the relationship with the manager is safe enough to include them throughout.

The answer truly is,” it depends.” Trust your intuition.

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