Collaborative Clarity

I was in a strategy session on a big project I’m working on. The meeting included the CEO and two of our senior engineers. The goal of the meeting was to create a strategy to launch a specific product feature. After I set the initial objective of the meeting, the conversation opened up, moving in multiple directions as we explored together.

After 30 minutes of listening and observing, I realized we were getting too deep in the weeds and losing sight of the objective. I found a natural break in the conversation, and interjected: I think we’re moving off track a bit, so let me reframe the objective. I used this opportunity to change the language of the initial objective. I call this approach Reset & Reframe, which is a simple way to get a group conversation back on track.

They all know me, so the response was laughing and thanking me for getting everyone out of the Solution Space and back into the Problem Space. At this point, I was screen-sharing a digital whiteboard where I was adding stickies and creating mind maps.

I would love your feedback on how to handle meetings like this better.

One of the senior engineers messaged me during the meeting. This is the prompt that sparked what you’re reading right now. This isn’t the first time someone has asked me some flavor of this question, so I used it as an opportunity to think about the process and techniques I use.

In order to drive Collaborative Clarity, you need to:

1. Establish defined outcomes of where you want to land.
2. Cultivate guided exploration that sparks curiosity to generate insights.
3. Create visible alignment of the conversation to form a single mental model.

Defined Outcomes

You may call this an objective, but I like to call it an outcome because it should answer what needs to be true at the end of this discussion? I like this framing because it fits my philosophy of The Next Step, which is about mapping the outcome, and then taking each step in turn until you get to your destination. This fits well here, too.

For this meeting, the outcome was: We have a clear strategy to release this feature for a particular customer, while understanding how we can improve it later.

Define a clear outcome (or multiple), and then work backwards through an open discussion that helps you reach that destination. The outcome acts as a constraint. If the conversation veers outside of the outcome, you can Reset & Reframe: Since this isn’t helping us get to out outcome, let’s reset back to the core problem.

This outcome should be identified before the meeting, and detailed within the calendar invite or any pre-meeting communication. Spend whatever time you need with the meeting participants to define the appropriate outcome. This also pre-heats the conversation in their brains, setting clear expectations entering the meeting.

Here are three principles I use to create Defined Outcomes:

1. Your Hypothesis: Write your own desired outcome for the discussion.
2. Shared Understanding: Share that outcome with the participants beforehand.
3. Clear Expectations: Refine the outcome and make it visible to everyone attending.

Guided Exploration

With a defined outcome, we have clarity on our destination, but we need to do some exploration to find all the edges of the problem. The reason I let 30 minutes elapse before I Reset & Reframe the meeting was because the open discussion is necessary. The entire purpose of collaborating as a group instead of individually is to leverage multiple perspectives. You’re building a shared knowledge that will more effectively help you reach your outcome with higher quality.

However, it’s important to know when and how to guide the conversation. The secret isn’t to listen and eventually point out that we’re off track. Use the Defined Outcomes as the constraint, but lean into the creative exploration of the conversation. This falls into the more-art-than-science category, but the more you facilitate these discussions, the more you tune your senses.

Here are three principles I use during Guided Exploration:

1. Listen First, Guide Second: Instead of stifling the exploration too soon, listen intently and use that as your compass for knowing when to step in and guide. This is where you call back to the Defined Outcomes if things go too far outside the scope.
2. Ask Reframing Questions: One of my favorite techniques is to ask questions that are framed differently than the original intention. These are focused questions that connect back to the Defined Outcomes, and allow you to cultivate the discussion while redirecting the flow.
3. Create Checkpoints: During the Guided Exploration, find natural places where you can summarize any key points, ask clarifying questions, and check the alignment with the Defined Outcomes. This allows you to identify when it’s time to pivot or go deeper.

Visible Alignment

Mental models are internal frameworks shaped by experiences, beliefs, and assumptions. I emphasize assumptions because they are the most dangerous element to watch for in collaborative discussions. These mental models are actively shaped during conversations. And, if you’re not careful, each participant’s mental model will be different, leading to misalignment, tension, and confusion.

You have to create Visible Alignment through a shared representation. This can be a physical whiteboard, digital whiteboard, or notes. Use whatever representation you want—what’s important is having something where you can visually represent what is being discussed. This creates a shared mental model rather than individual ones loaded with assumptions. Each participant is actively attempting to understand what they are seeing, and it’s your job to guide the conversation, asking questions and surfacing insights to drive alignment. This tension of attempting to represent everyone’s thinking in a single visual forces information to the surface.

I work remotely and all my meetings are over video calls. Because of this, I lean heavily on digital whiteboards like FigJam to create elements in an open canvas. Flexibility here is important because each discussion takes a different form. Some need a bunch of stickie notes; some need flow charts; some need a simple bulleted list. Use a tool that lets you adapt your shared representation so you can create Visible Alignment.

Here are three principles I use during Visible Alignment:

1. Real-Time Documentation: During the open discussion, make sure you’re writing down key points, decisions, and questions. Again, this is where the flexibility comes in. You have a living artifact that everyone can see, reference, and validate.
2. Iterative Refinement: I can’t remember a time where I nailed the visual on the first try. This is a design exercise, driven by continuous iteration. Keep refining the visual during the discussion as new ideas, questions, and insights emerge.
3. Verification Loops: This is the representation everyone should be aligning to, so regularly pause to verify that it matches everyone’s understanding. Use these points to make adjustments and continually drive alignment.

Create Collaborative Clarity

Meetings are often frustrating. There’s no clear agenda, too many people are involved, and the conversation rarely lands where it needs to. But they don’t have to be that way. And this is even more important when you engage in collaborative discussions. There is a tension between staying on track and exploring new insights—Tension Guides as I call them. You can use the tension to strike a balance, setting Defined Outcomes, engaging in Guided Exploration, and creating Visible Alignment through a shared representation of the discussion.

Like most things, the more you do it, the better you’ll get. Lean into the discomfort, stay curious, and create Collaborative Clarity to drive forward progress.