QRCA Views Magazine, Spring 2016

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60 QRCA VIEWS SPRING 2016
W e have all been in enough
strategy meetings that
veered off-course with
rambling discussions,
bloated presentations, and fuzzy
agendas to know there is an art to
designing successful meetings. That is
why Chris Ertel and Lisa Kay Solomon
wrote Moments of Impact, “to eradicate
as many time-sucking, energy-
depleting strategy meetings as
possible.” The roadmap they provide in
this exceptional book guides the reader
through a step-by-step process to
design meetings that stimulate
purposeful dialog and give participants
an inspiring and meaningful experience.
Ertel and Solomon see distinct
comparisons between the typical
meeting and well-designed strategic
conversations. The typical meeting will
sound familiar. It has declared
objectives, includes participants based
on their positions in the organization, is
informed by content such as PowerPoint
presentations or reports, is held in a
venue appropriate to the size of the
group, and is guided by an agenda.
A well-designed strategic
conversation, however, differs in
important ways. It has the purpose of
advancing a larger goal. It includes
participants (or their written or video
recorded views if they cannot be there in
person) with multiple perspectives and
is based on their expertise rather than
their position. Information is framed
around possibilities and choices. The
physical environment is carefully
choreographed to create the best
atmosphere for the participants to
engage in conversation. And, finally, the
session is designed to be an emotionally
and analytically engaging experience for
the participants.
In developing their approach, the
authors drew from their experience in
facilitating more than 100 meetings as
well as conversations with more than 100
people they call “black belts” in strategic
conversations. They refer to their black
belts as leaders, executives, educators,
and entrepreneurs—almost anything but
“facilitators.” They believe anyone can
learn to plan and lead a strategic
conversation, not just those whose work
is dedicated to facilitating meetings.
The book’s writing is exceptionally
well organized, and the clean graphic
design adds to the easy-to-read format.
Page through and you can find bite-
sized boxes of information such as the
“Key Elements of Strategic Thinking,”
“Four Framing Pitfalls,” and “Visual
Elements to a Strategic Conversation.” In
addition, they share examples of
meetings that have gone right—or
wrong—as a result of different planning
and execution approaches.
The bonus in Moments of Impact is the
60-page “Starter Kit,” a step-by-step
guide to their approach, which the
authors say can be used as virtual coach,
as a reference checklist, or as a shared
playbook for teams. The “Starter Kit” is
organized by the five key principles of
their approach:
1. Define Your Purpose
2. Engage Multiple Perspectives
3. Frame the Issues
4. Set the Scene
5. Make it an Experience
The kit expands on each principle with
four sections to guide the reader through
the approach. In “Ask This,” the authors
offer questions to consider during the
meeting planning process. In “Do This,”
they describe key practices to their
approach. “Try This” offers specific
tactical ideas to try. And, finally, in “Read
This,” they recommend sources for more
in-depth reading on each of the topics.
Many times business how-to books
give pie-in-the-sky prescriptions for how
events should unfold without
acknowledging resistance to new ideas,
limited time, small budgets and a host of
other obstacles. Ertel and Solomon
acknowledge these types of challenges
and offer work-arounds and real-life
examples throughout the book.
If you are leading conversations for
project input or to discuss research
outcomes, or you are serving in a
volunteer or community leadership role,
Moments of Impact is an excellent guide
to help in designing an experience that
is purposeful, effective, and rewarding
for the participants. For research
consultants, it is another way we can add
value to our consulting projects.
n BOOK REVIEWS n
Moments of Impact: How to Design Strategic
Conversations That Accelerate Change
Chris Ertel and Lisa Kay Solomon, Simon & Schuster, 2014
Reviewed by Robin Wedewer
n The Wedewer Group
n Huntingtown, MD
n