Leadership Forum Compressed 2025
Key Mission
A space for leaders to come together, solve challenges, and learn from one another’s experiences.
Format Overview
Duration: 1.5 hours
Participants:
1 moderator
Heads of departments/divisions
For single-department teams: involve all team members if appropriate
Group Size: Ideally 8 people or fewer
Frequency:
Every 2 weeks or once a month
Additional sessions can be requested in urgent situations
Core Principles
To create a psychologically safe space:
Nothing shared leaves the room. Notes taken are for personal use only.
Speak only in “I” statements, from personal experiences and perspectives.
No advice, opinions, or feedback unless specifically requested by the person who raised the topic.
Forum Agenda
| Segment | Time | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Check-In | ~10 mins | One-word or 1–5 rating (1 = meh, 5 = awesome), followed by a brief reason. |
| Sweet & Sour | ~20 mins | Share one recent highlight and one challenge. Participants may raise a topic they want to explore. |
| Topic Selection | ~5 mins | Moderator facilitates urgency/importance voting and finalizes one topic for deep dive. |
| Context Sharing | ~10 mins | Topic owner gives background. Others ask clarifying questions only. |
| Dive-In Setup | ~5 mins | Topic owner chooses format: River Flow or Personal Sharing. |
| Topic Deep Dive | ~30 mins | Group explores the topic using the chosen format. Moderator checks if an extra round is needed. |
| Takeaways | ~10 mins | Topic owner shares key takeaways, followed by everyone else. |
| Closing & Scheduling | ~10 mins | Confirm next session date, revisit any pending topics, and close with one word from each participant. |
Deep Dive Options
1. River Flow
Quick, emotion-focused memory sharing.
Each person shares a short story or moment that comes to mind—max 30 seconds.
Examples:
“That reminds me of when I had a value clash with a teammate and we didn’t talk for a week. I felt lost and discouraged.”
“Reminds me of when we rang the bell after finally closing that 6-month deal! I felt so proud of the team.”
2. Personal Sharing
Each leader shares a detailed personal story related to the topic (up to 5 minutes), including:
What happened
Why it mattered
What they felt
Example:
“I inherited a delayed project with no budget, a burnt-out team, and a 2-week deadline. I gathered the team, built a transparent plan with daily updates, and made sure no one worked past 10pm. Though leadership called it a failure, for us, it was a huge win—our bond grew, we created a new way of working, and we stayed strong together.”
Moderator Responsibilities
Guide the entire session
Record check-in ratings and general notes for internal use
Document raised topics and rate them based on urgency and importance
Facilitate topic voting if ratings are tied
Support topic owner in choosing discussion format
Keep track of time
Maintain forum principles (no feedback unless asked, use “I” statements, no cross-talking)
Schedule next forum and manage follow-up notes
Indicate in the tracking sheet which topic and format were used
Reference Image on how tracking sheet can look like.
Pivot tables and reports can be made later on attendance, check in rating through time based on team member, number of topics brought up etc.
Topic Rating System
To help select topics, participants rate proposed topics based on:
Urgency (0–2)
Importance (0–2)
| Score | Meaning |
|---|---|
| 0 | Not urgent/important |
| 1 | Somewhat urgent/important |
| 2 | Very urgent/important |
Topics with the highest combined score are prioritized. In case of a tie, participants vote.
Want to Try This with Your Team?
Book a call with me here
I’ll walk through the steps and help you implement this in your organization.
Let me know how I can support you in unlocking the growth potential your team is ready to unleash.