The Mute Button: How Better Conversations Lead to Stronger Teams

Can you imagine, if for a team meeting, a leadership offsite, a board retreat, or a project huddle, we needed a mute button?

If part of our meeting preparation, along with a slide deck and agenda, included setting up this technology each time?

Or to be so unwilling or unable to talk with each other and listen to each other at work that instead, we each got time boxed segments in which we could speak, muted promptly after two minutes?

There is a much simpler way, which requires no technology; no mute buttons; and no time-boxed segments during which we can speak.

The invitations within Expansive Impact offer one possible path. 

For example:

• Be Clear: Lead in Relationship to Reality. Rather than requiring a mute button, we can consciously design our meetings and conversations up front. We can create a set of agreements that we all  align around, before we jump into the conversation.

• Be Curious: Lead by Looking for Clues. Rather than cooking up our next jab while the other person is talking, we can listen fully to what the other person is saying. Rather than lobbing insults back and forth, we can practice acceptance, even if we don't agree, and we can gain clarity by asking curiosity-based questions (which begin with what and how.)

While we can't alter past events, we can positively change the course of our teams, our organizations, our conversations, and our relationships, each and every day. 

As Susan Scott says,

“Our work, our relationships, and our lives succeed or fail one conversation at a time. While no single conversation is guaranteed to transform a company, a relationship, or a life, any single conversation can. Speak and listen as if this is the most important conversation you will ever have with this person. It could be. Participate as if it matters. It does.”

Even if we consider past conversations a miss, we can create something different for our own conversations today. 

Can we listen just a bit longer, be just a bit more curious, or practice just a bit more acceptance for a perspective that is different than our own?

A possible experiment for the day. 

Transforming our conversations doesn’t require advanced technology or strict time limits; it starts with intentionality and openness. By being clear, curious, and accepting of others’ perspectives, we can create meaningful dialogue that leads to real change. If you're ready to embrace conversations that matter and foster stronger relationships within your team and organization, we're here to support you. Let’s work together to build a culture of trust, curiosity, and clarity—one conversation at a time.

This post was originally shared via Friday Favorites —a free weekly curation of resources, reflections, and inquiries on leadership and life. Join us here, and join the weekly conversation, if you’d like.

Building Stronger Connections: Engage in open, thoughtful conversations to foster trust, collaboration, and positive change in your team and relationships.