Do your meetings spiral into unproductive complaining sessions? This trick works every every single time. Either set it up at the beginning of the meeting if you anticipate a negative spiral or pull it out mid-meeting with the reframe, “Let’s each take a specific role in this conversation so we can get to all angles before we run out of time.”
Edward de Bono’s Six Thinking Hats are the perfect solution — and yes, I literally make people pull a small, wooden hat out of an old mint tin. It lives in my work back for moments of dysfunction – either with older student or adults.