Fight Club for Meetings?

I remember some time ago reading a short but meaningful commentary on an email from Harvard Business Review's daily email newsletter (sorry, I no longer have a link to the original email, just my notes on the subject). In the email they outline how to have good meetings by not only forcing debate, but also by being more inclusive of all participants. Some of the key suggestions include:

1. Start by asking questions, not uttering your opinion up front.

2. Help quiet people to speak up.

3. Make it safe for everyone to take risks and express their opinion

4. Take the contrarian view to explore all options

5. Cultivate transparent advocates (and don’t let the hard sellers bully everyone else)

While I don't subscribe to the original author's use of the word 'fight' when he states, “When teams have a good fight during meetings, team members debate the issues, consider alternatives, challenge one another, listen to minority views, and scrutinize assumptions." I do agree with the underlying point that leaders will get more meaningful feedback to make smarter decisions when their team feels comfortable speaking their mind, both within the team and upwards to leadership. 

As leaders we need to practice the above 5 techniques (at a minimum) to ensure team inclusivity and to give us the best opportunity to hear all ideas. Sometimes as a leader you just need to make a timely decision and there isn't an opportunity for feedback, but when possible, take the time to hear what your people have to say as invariably they will have meaningful perspectives that will never have occurred to you.

Recognize that if you’ve done your job and built a team of skilled professionals you are very likely not the smartest person on the topic at hand. If you are doing your job as a leader you are also grooming your team for the next step in their career (to include moving into your job). Giving them these opportunities to participate in the decision-making by providing input not only helps you, but helps them as well to think things through.

BTW, what prompt would you use to generate an image of a fight club in an office during a meeting? Show me your best in the comments.