Facilitator Guide — Working With Me

Seth's copy. One box per slide: the point you're making, what to do, what to watch for. This page: savoy-exec-workshop2.pages.dev · The deck: savoy-exec-workshop1.pages.dev · Passcode for both: savoy2026.

Prep Before the meeting

Print 12+ copies of the packet (Working-With-Me-Packet-2026-08.pdf, all 12 leaders), one per seat. The pairs session doesn't work without it.
Sit down with Barrett first and agree on the #1 priority for Amber, Brian, Jeff, and Lisa. You two say them out loud on slide 12. One sentence each.
Deck open on the touchscreen. SOS open in another tab for the task at the end.
Chase Tyler's survey. His vote can settle slide 19.

1 Titlewalk-in

The point: this is the team's meeting, not your presentation.

Leave it on screen while people sit down. Start talking on slide 2.

2 Why we did this3 min

The point: knowing each other well makes us faster. We collected two versions of how everyone works, and today we compare them.

Repeat the line from July: trust is speed.
Explain the two collections in one breath: everyone wrote a page, then everyone took a quick survey without looking at their page.
Set the ground rule: when the page and the survey disagree, believe the survey. The page is what we'd like to be true. The survey is the honest answer.
Don't apologize for the exercise or call it soft. Confident and quick.

3 Who said it? quiz5 min

The point: we think we know each other. Let's find out.

How to run it Cards come out three at a time, four rounds, twelve quotes, one per person. Read a quote out loud, let people shout names, tap the card to show the answer, move on. Click anywhere to bring out the next three.

About 25 seconds per card. The laughing here makes the honest talk later easier.
When Barrett's card turns over ("I don't naturally like being told no"), say: "remember that one. It comes back at the end."
Running behind? Flip the last three without guessing.

4 How we decide3 min

The point: some of us wrote "I decide fast" and answered "I gather first." And almost everyone moves faster when they know a decision can be undone.

Show the two sides, click the reveal, then ask Clay and Marc, friendly: "your page said fast, your answer said gather. Which one is the real you?"
Point at the 8-of-10 line and say: "hang onto that one. It comes back at the vote."

5 What to walk in with2 min

The point: setup only. Show what everyone wrote so the surprise on the next slide lands.

Read the names on "bring me your answer." Say: "that's what we wrote. Watch what happened when we asked privately." Advance.
Don't let discussion start here. It all belongs on the next slide.

6 The mismatch3 min

The point: most of us want to see work early, but we all wait until our own work is polished before we show it. We're wasting time polishing for people who didn't ask for polish.

Let the two big numbers sit quiet for five seconds before you talk.
Name the five doing both: Clay, Jeff, Jeremy, Lisa, Marc. Say it plainly: "you're polishing work for people who wanted to see the rough draft."
Get a real answer out of the room: "rough draft on Wednesday beats polished on Friday. Are we agreeing to that?"
One caveat: Seth, Bradley, Chris, and Barrett still want it finished. Know who you're walking in on.

7 Underwater reveal4 min

The point: nobody in this room looks stressed when they're drowning. Every single one of us just goes quiet.

Reveal the empty "Nobody" side first. Pause. Then all twelve names. Let the room react before you talk.
Connect it to real work without naming anyone: "every project that goes dark for two weeks and comes back as an emergency? This is why."
Press the orange button to move on.

8 What helps: space vs. come get me3 min

The point: when someone's buried, half this room wants to be left alone and half wants someone to step in. If you help them the way YOU like to be helped, you'll get it wrong half the time.

60 seconds, run out loud. This is NOT on the slide; the room only sees the two sides.

"Everybody, say out loud the name of the person in this room you work with the most." That means the person you trade the most work with, not whoever is sitting next to you. Let it be noisy for thirty seconds.
"Now find that person's name on the screen. Which side are they on?"
"Raise your hand if they're on the OPPOSITE side from you." Count the hands out loud.
Then land it: "every hand in the air means: the way you'd naturally help that person is the opposite of what they want. Help people the way they want to be helped."

Before the exercise, own your own answer, in roughly these words: "The survey asked if it's okay to switch approaches on you when yours isn't working. Nine of you said yes. I'm the one who said no. I want space even when space isn't helping me, and I answered 'poke it' for everybody else. So I'm the double standard on this slide. You have my permission to poke me anyway." Ten seconds, gets a laugh, builds credibility for everything after.

9 Life preservers4 min

The point: this team is quiet by wiring, so asking people to speak up won't work. We need a simple routine that shows the load instead. Three moves: color your week, say it early, help their way.

Teach the three moves in your own words. Color your week: every weekly update gets a green, yellow, or red. Say it early: one sentence before the deadline, "I'm underwater on X, Y is at risk," sent to whoever it affects. Help their way: use the sides from the last slide. Space people, take something off their plate without a meeting. Come-get-me people, go knock.
Then the norm: "getting thrown a life preserver is never an insult here. Nine out of ten of you said to poke the quiet teammate. So poke."
If someone groans "another process": it's one color and one sentence. Ten seconds a week.

10 Feedback + Culture Index3 min

The point: some of us argue when we get feedback, some of us go quiet. Neither one means what it looks like. It's wiring, and Culture Index called it.

The teach: high-Ingenuity people think by talking, so they push back out loud (Tyler most of all; Seth, Barrett, Amber, Marc close behind). Traditional and low-Ingenuity people think it through quietly first (Brian, Bradley, Lisa, Jeff; Clay in the middle).
Make it practical: when Tyler or Amber argues with your feedback, hold your ground. That's them thinking. When Brian or Jeff says nothing, don't assume you're agreed. Check back tomorrow.
Two survey surprises worth saying: Jeremy actually goes quiet, and Lisa actually pushes back. Adjust what you expect from both.
If someone asks for exact CI numbers: these come from the written profiles. The 1-to-10 dots can be pulled from the platform later.

11 First, not fifth2 min

The point: if you have a problem with someone's department, tell that person first. Today we make that a rule for every department.

Thank Chris and Lisa by name for answering honestly that they don't always do this. Rewarding the honesty matters more than the answer.
Then ask the question and let it sit: "eight of us say we already go direct. So why does news still reach people fifth-hand?"

12 Priorities3 min

The point: four leaders said they can't name their single top priority. That's not their failure, it's ours. We fix it before this slide ends.

Do not skip this: you and Barrett tell Amber, Brian, Jeff, and Lisa their #1, out loud, one sentence each. You agreed on these before the meeting.
If you and Barrett turn out to disagree in the room, say so. That disagreement is the whole explanation, and fixing it live is the best thing that could happen on this slide.

13 Recognition2 min

The point: three people separately wrote that good work gets met with silence here. Silence after somebody delivers reads as "nobody cared."

Keep it pointed at a decision: Motivosity is dead, so where does recognition happen now? (If you want a ready answer: the Sparks module planned for SOS.)
Easy win you can take today: two standing minutes of recognition in this monthly meeting.

14 "It's Seth's company"2 min

The point: you and Barrett both put your flaws in writing. That makes it safe for everyone else to be honest, starting right now.

Read your own quote out loud yourself. Then read Barrett's. Then ask: "is it true?"
The rule: one sentence per person, and the only thing you say back is "thank you." The first time you defend yourself, the honesty stops.
If the room freezes, say gently: "the fact that this is hard to say out loud is kind of the point."

15 Silence is not progress2 min

The point: new habit for the whole team. If work isn't visible in SOS, we assume it's stuck. Nobody has to raise a hand for us to notice.

This is a rule-setting slide, not a discussion. Say the rule twice.
Tie it back: this is why we push on keeping OKRs current and reading the pre-read. It lets quiet people be seen without being interrupted.

16 "I hold on to too much"2 min

The point: nine of twelve of us wrote the same weakness, almost word for word: we don't hand enough off. Next year's growth depends on the people below this room, and handing work down is how they get built.

Read two or three of the near-identical lines out loud. The repetition is the punch. Don't explain it, just read them.
Leave them with one thought: "pick one thing you're carrying that somebody on your team could own by October." Don't collect answers. Just plant it.

17 One word2 min

The point: a fun beat with one serious signal in it. Marc's word was "Siloed."

Enjoy Chris's Ricky Bobby answer. Then turn to Marc, genuinely curious, no defensiveness: "you see something from your seat that the rest of us don't. What is it?" The slide doesn't prompt this on purpose, so it comes across as a real question, not a script.
Don't let anyone argue with whatever Marc says. He's describing the view from his seat. Hear it, thank him, move on.

18 Pairs work session7 min

The point: turn all of this into one real change per pair, written into SOS before the meeting ends.

How to run it. The printed packet is the material.

Make sure everyone has a printed packet (all 12 pages are in it).
Pairs are on screen: Marc+Amber, Chris+Barrett, Seth+Lisa, Jeff+Bradley, Jeremy+Tyler, Clay+Brian.
Step 1: open the packet to your PARTNER's page. Pick one line off it and read it to them: "this is the one I'm going to act on."
Step 2: name one piece of live work the two of you share this month.
Step 3: agree on what each of you will do differently on it, starting when. Specific enough to type into SOS.
Say the time out loud: "seven minutes. Step 3 gets written down."

You're paired with Lisa. Do step 3 first and loud, so the room hears what "specific" sounds like.
This is also the answer to "how do we present the homework": nobody reads their own page to the room. Everyone walks out with all twelve in hand.
If someone's absent, fold their partner into the nearest pair as a group of three.

19 The vote3 min

The point: the survey already voted on our new habit and it's nearly a three-way tie. Adopt the free one today, then pick one of the other two, and put the winner into SOS before anyone stands up.

"Say reversible or permanent up front" got the most votes and costs nothing. Adopt it by a show of hands, no debate needed.
Then the real choice: standing check-ins on at-risk items, or a Friday recap of commitments and deadlines. Two minutes of debate, then hands. Tyler settles a tie if he's voted.
Create the SOS task on the screen, in front of everyone, with you as owner. If it isn't a task in SOS, it doesn't exist, and that includes this meeting's decision.

20 Close1 min

The point: three habits leave this room. Speak up early when you're underwater. Bring work early, to the owner first. Hand more down. Then close it: ride for the brand.

Read the three lines slowly. Say "ride for the brand" from memory, looking at the room, not the screen.
Optional last line: "next month's pre-read will show me who spoke up and who went quiet. Prove the survey right."