Tip
Use the Lean Coffee facilitation technique for meetings in which the topic is determined by the attendees during the meeting.
Details
The topic of a meeting does not always have to be set in advance. Regular sync-ups or information-sharing meetings often revolve around what attendees want to discuss at the moment. Lean Coffee is a simple facilitation technique that helps prioritizing topics dynamically and manage the discussion democratically.
To run a lean coffee meeting, you only need two things:
- a place to put topic ideas like a white board or virtual equivalent
- a stop watch (or a regular watch and someone who pays attention to the time)
The meeting begins with everyone jotting down topics they want to talk about and sharing them with the group. Because attendees are encouraged to quickly capture what’s on their minds rather than overthink potential topics.
Next, all participants vote on the topics that interests them most. The card with the most votes becomes the first discussion topic.
Once the first topic is selected, the group discusses it within a strict time limit so that one topic does not consume a disproportionate share of the meeting time. A good time limit seems to be 10 minutes though this can be adjusted based on the situation. When time is up, the facilitator interrupts the conversation. The group can now decide to A) continue for another 10 minutes or B) move on to the next prioritized topic.
This process repeats until either all topics have been discussed or – more likely – the meeting time runs out.
It really is as straightforward as it sounds. Using a whiteboard or digital equivalent to visualize the stages—To Discuss, Discussing, Discussed—can help participants follow along. Topics are written on cards that move through these columns as they progress.
This brief 1- minute video provides a clear illustration of how Lean Coffee works.