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Session Principles
Table of contents
What is Session Principles?
Session Principles is a card from the Workshop Tactics deck by Pip Decks.
Bad habits have a tendency to create mundane, ineffective meetings that do not achieve their goals. Establishing and sticking to principles helps break those habits. Flexible principles create a container for a productive meeting.
When to use Session Principles
- Recurring unproductive meetings
- Lack of engagement in team sessions
- Need to establish a collaborative team culture
- Frequent miscommunication or misunderstandings
- Desire to improve meeting outcomes and efficiency
- Onboarding new team members into meeting culture
- Facilitating cross-functional team workshops
How to use Session Principles
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Write Principles on your whiteboard or workspace.
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Ask the group to agree on suggested principles to make the session more effective.
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Discuss each principle in brief to ensure there is a shared understanding and there are no differing interpretations or opinions.
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Explain that throughout the session it’s okay to pause to ask questions, add to or amend the principles.
Tip: it’s important to make the group self manage the principles. If the facilitator is the only enforcer of the rules, then the rules lose their power.
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At the end, revisit the principles by asking:
- “Are our principles still serving us?”
- “Would we like to amend or adapt them in any way?”
Example principles:
- No phones or laptops please!
- Listen more than you talk
- No questions are stupid
- Politely interrupt tangential conversation
- Share your snacks
- Never question the wisdom of Workshop Tactics
