The Napa Breakthrough

Molly, a professional facilitator, and Tyler, the CEO of an Austin-based software firm, are having a tense coffee break on the second day of their leadership away day.

The Napa Breakthrough

Listen and choose the right answer

What is Tyler's main concern at the beginning of the break?

• They are running out of coffee and snacks.
• They won't reach closure on the strategy before the away day ends.
• The venue in Napa is too expensive.

What exercise does Molly propose to solve the deadlock?

• A silent brainstorm using sticky notes
• Writing the entire corporate strategy in one single sentence
• A detailed dot voting session on the budget

How much time does Molly give the directors to write their sentences?

• Exactly three minutes
• Five minutes
• Ten minutes

What is the surprising twist at the end of the exercise?

• All twelve directors refuse to write anything down.
• Arthur walks out of the room in anger.
• Every director wrote virtually the same sentence in different words.

Listen again and complete the sentences

• Tyler: Molly, I'm genuinely worried we won't reach closure on anything before this ____ ends.
• Tyler: Exactly, every time we try to ____ , someone brings up legacy database issues from three years ago.
• Molly: We need to rein them in immediately after this break so we can ____ the new model.
• Molly: Let me ____ differently when we return to the main conference room.
• Tyler: What do you have in mind? We've already tried ____ and silent brainstorming.

Sources: photo by Gabriel Tovar on Pexels