Speaker 1: Helping leaders motivate their people to a higher level of
Speaker 1: performance through strong human relations, team building, and golajiving. This
Speaker 1: is the seven Minute Leadership Podcast with your host Paul
Speaker 1: fella Aledo. Hello everyone, and welcome to the seven Minute
Speaker 1: Leadership Podcast. It's episode four twelve. Let's set the stage.
Speaker 1: You're in a meeting. Maybe it's with your executive team,
Speaker 1: your department leads, or a project task force. The usual
Speaker 1: voices dominate, the power players, the ones with titles, influence,
Speaker 1: and confidence, and you You're not one of them yet,
Speaker 1: so you sit there, unsure when to speak or if
Speaker 1: you even should. I'm here to tell you, yes, you should,
Speaker 1: and I'm going to give you real tactical ways to
Speaker 1: control to meetings even when you're not the loudest or
Speaker 1: most powerful person in the room. This episode is for
Speaker 1: anyone who's ever felt invisible at the table, or worse
Speaker 1: like your silence is mistaken for apathy. Let's talk about
Speaker 1: how to make your minutes matter. Number one, Preparation beats position.
Speaker 1: Before you even walk into the meeting, do your homework,
Speaker 1: read the agenda, know what's being discussed. Then do this
Speaker 1: simple trick write down one thoughtful question one data point,
Speaker 1: and one insight. You can contribute to each topic. Why
Speaker 1: because contribution doesn't require charisma, it requires context. And when
Speaker 1: you come prepared with a fact or a fresh perspective,
Speaker 1: you instantly elevate yourself from participant to value ad power
Speaker 1: players bring You bring preparation, and trust me, preparation gets noticed.
Speaker 1: Number two, ask anchor questions. If you're worried about overstepping,
Speaker 1: focus on asking smart questions, not vague ones, not just
Speaker 1: curious questions. I'm talking about anchor questions, questions that help
Speaker 1: center the conversation or uncover what's being missed. Here's a
Speaker 1: few examples. What's the biggest risk if we don't act
Speaker 1: on this, or how does this decision impact our frontline team?
Speaker 1: Or has anyone looked at this from the customer's point
Speaker 1: of view? You see what I'm doing there. You're not
Speaker 1: just speaking. You're guiding the room to deeper thinking and
Speaker 1: that earns respect. Number three be the connector another high
Speaker 1: level move. Become the connector of ideas in the room.
Speaker 1: Let's say someone in finance presents a budget concern and
Speaker 1: someone in operations is focused on delivery timelines. If you
Speaker 1: chime in with something like it sounds like we're wrestling
Speaker 1: with how to protect delivery speed without blowing the budget.
Speaker 1: Could we map that out visually. You've just elevated the conversation.
Speaker 1: You don't need to be the originator of the idea.
Speaker 1: Being the one who sees the bigger picture is just
Speaker 1: as valuable. Number four. Use the plus one technique. This
Speaker 1: one is a classic. Let's say a senior leader makes
Speaker 1: a great point and you genuinely agree. Instead of staying quiet,
Speaker 1: jump in with a plus one and ad a layer.
Speaker 1: And the example is I completely agree with what Mark
Speaker 1: said about customer response time. One thing I'd add from
Speaker 1: my experience last week on the help desk, clients don't
Speaker 1: just want fast answers, they want context. Maybe we could
Speaker 1: build a quick reference guide for the team. Now you've
Speaker 1: done two things. You've validated a power player and you've
Speaker 1: brought ground level intel to support the strategy. And that's
Speaker 1: the sweet spot. Number five. Don't talk just to talk.
Speaker 1: Let's be honest. Some people speak in meetings just to
Speaker 1: hear themselves. Don't do that. Silence can be powerful when
Speaker 1: it's intentional, but silence because of fear, that's a missed opportunity.
Speaker 1: If you only speak once in a meeting, make it count.
Speaker 1: One well timed insight question or bridge between two ideas
Speaker 1: can have more impact than someone rambling for ten minutes.
Speaker 1: Meetings are not measured in minutes spoken, They're measured in
Speaker 1: value delivered. Number six. Follow up is the secret sauce.
Speaker 1: Here's the move that most people forget. Follow up after
Speaker 1: the meeting. If you had an idea that didn't get
Speaker 1: airtime or something clicked in your head after the meeting ended,
Speaker 1: send a quick follow up email something like, Hey, I
Speaker 1: was thinking more about the discussion around onboarding. I had
Speaker 1: an idea I didn't get a chance to share. What
Speaker 1: if we ran a two week mentor shadowing rotation boom?
Speaker 1: You just stayed in the conversation after the conversation and
Speaker 1: guess what, leaders notice who's still thinking after the meeting ends.
Speaker 1: So if you're not a power player at the table yet,
Speaker 1: it doesn't mean you're powerless. Titles don't equal influence. Contribution
Speaker 1: equals influence. So prepare like it matters, Speak when it counts,
Speaker 1: ask anchor questions, connect the dots, add value, and follow up.
Speaker 1: You don't need to be the loudest in the room
Speaker 1: to be the most respected. You just need to show
Speaker 1: that when you speak, it's worth hearing. This has been
Speaker 1: the seven minute Leadership podcast, and I thank you for listening.
Speaker 1: For more Paul fell of Alito Podcasts, visit paulfellowalito dot
Speaker 1: com