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Practice desciption
You know, these lengthy discussions about the smallest details. Two participants of the meeting are arguing their opinions. And the rest is watching, you can’t find a way to interrupt them. There is an easy and fun way to end those discussions. Inspired by Agile practices. You can use Elmo. Yes, the doll from sesame street. Actually, it’s an acronym. E.L.M.O. It stands for “Enough, Let’s Move On”.
What steps to take for the practice
Buy an Elmo doll and bring him to your next meeting. Describe the role of Elmo in your meeting and put him on a chair or somewhere on the table. Only by describing its role, it will have it’s added value. But when a discussion is going nowhere, it is time to put ELMO to the test. Grab him and put him in the middle of the table (by doing this, you are saying “Enough”). The active participants of the discussion will definitely notice it and will stop speaking. Now you have the power to steer the meeting. Let’s Move On.
You can use this in training sessions and in meetings with your team (it is extremely useful during Standups but should be encouraged in all the meetings). It’s exceptionally effective, brings laughter and avoids unnecessary discussions about off-topics.
Expected results
- Less discussion and off-topics;
- More decisions/action;
- A little bit of laughter in meetings
Related Organizations
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Level in organization
Difficulty to implement
Practice Author
Edwin van der Geest
Chief Prototyping Officer at Prototyping.Work and Organization Designer. Edwin helps employees, teams and companies Unleash Potential Energy!
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Michiel van Nieuwkerk
11 December 2019 at 13:31For our session where we think about new goals I’ve introduced Elmo to our group. In past sessions we would have discussions or explanations that would end up in details and/or repeating things already said before. With Elmo we had a small but useful tool that everyone felt free to use. Great tool/toy!