Thank you for this book, definitely helpful within my new role and will continue to utilise as I progress

Facilitator Mark Smutny wrote this book with the stated aim of helping facilitators transform the often lackluster energy of meetings into the more vibrant mood of break time, drawing from his experience as a facilitator in nonprofit, church, and corporate contexts. He offers some solid guidance towards that aim, but the editing is a bit clumsy and I found the title misleading—yes, the techniques in this book point towards inclusion, but “radical” is a bit of an overstatement. While leaders in corporate and civic contexts who are new to meeting facilitation are likely to benefit from this accessible and practical volume, many of these techniques are already baked into nonprofit cultures and marginalized folks especially aren’t necessarily going to learn anything new.

If we ignore the word “radically” in the title (”foundationally” might be more accurate), viewing this book as a basic guide to making meetings more dynamic and inclusive, it’s a decent take. I particularly appreciate the clear guidance on agenda-building and meeting invitations and on how Smutny recommends structuring the meeting to encourage participation and ultimately drive action.

Smutny introduces a number of techniques I’ve found effective as a facilitator and as an attendee that encourage introverts and those who are not in the cultural majority within a meeting to participate, such as the 1-2-4-all method that allows for individual idea generation and avoids immediate groupthink. He summarizes several ideas that you can read an entire book on (especially large group meeting approaches), so that facilitators can pick and choose areas of interest. (Keep in mind, however that the further reading section he references is not organized or annotated, so you’ll want to make reference notes as you read.) I also appreciate the centering of listening skills and setting clear ground rules from the top of the meeting.

To center inclusion, Smutny doesn’t actually get into these practical elements right away, and I wondered if the opening chapters could’ve been tightened up a bit and some of the later chapters not directly related to meetings dropped. While it’s important to ground the reader in the importance of inclusion, I actually found that his points on inclusion were better made in discussing the specifics of running an inclusive meeting than in the earlier chapters, and he might have been better served by a briefer introduction with reference to other sources for more information.

While Smutny’s personal story of growing up on a farm in Idaho and practicing basic human decency around folks of other races might be inspiring or meaningful to other white men, it left me actually questioning his competency as an author, especially when I read a cringey anecdote that felt a bit self-congratulatory about two Black women thanking him for showing up to a Black church following an incident of violence. Smutny does name his position as a white man, but I found his awareness of that position in the context of this book a little insufficient, which unfortunately carries through to how he addresses the facilitator.

I would’ve appreciated more emphasis on the facilitator’s own positionality in meetings and how privileged facilitators can incorporate marginalized leadership, as well as greater acknowledgement of the systemic and institutionalized nature of oppression. For example, in a section on flexible roles, facilitators are encouraged to allow roles to naturally shift among participants, but I’ve found that it can be more useful to designate roles to individuals based on their strengths, which acknowledges both specific participant skills and potential facilitator weaknesses. If you’re a facilitator who struggles to see certain things due to your positionality, why not ask a meeting participant to help you find your blindspots? Letting everyone occupy roles flexibly, with the facilitator as a kind of “referee,” loses this specificity.

Beyond positionality, the book could generally benefit from some less formulaic examples. For example in describing reflective listening, instructing a leader to paraphrase, it may not be clear that the most important part of this technique is getting clear about what the speaker needs and is asking for from you. In the discussion of creative questions, as another example, it seems odd that sample questions are actually not that creative and some could even come across confrontational!

The techniques Smutny teaches are important stepping stones, but this isn’t a place where you’re going to find really generative techniques for addressing conflict or strong advice on the differential impact of certain exercises. For example, one icebreaker question recommended was “what was the shabbiest place you ever lived and why?” While this was an example of how you might connect the topic of a meeting (houselessness) to an icebreaker, I immediately cringed thinking of how that language would hit a mixed audience.

With all the language around being respectful I also would’ve liked to see at least some discussion of the dangers of tone policing. A positive mindset can be good, and I agree that we often over-focus on problems, but real conflict does occur in meetings and it’s important to address its impact. I didn’t find that this book really got to how a facilitator can be present to the more emotional side of conflict, or made clear how expecting vulnerability and personal storytelling in the workplace has a very different effect on marginalized people.

Smutny discusses cultural differences, but not so much the systematic burden imposed by a white dominant culture dictating “professionalism.” I found that the goal of reducing tension was overemphasized, which I’ve seen this applied in really harmful ways by facilitators. “Sticking to the agenda” and “moving things along” often show up as reflections of white supremacy culture in the workplace, not helpful responses. The importance of closed affinity spaces doesn’t even come up, outside of a specific section on multi-lingual meetings.

I was happy to find a section all about accessibility, but I think a consultant would have made sense here as in other sections. Many common needs such as neurodivergence, sensory issues, trauma sensitivity, and nursing parents are totally left out while ASL interpreters are called “signers” and it’s a little unclear whether Smutny expects spoken language interpreters to be unqualified volunteers or paid professionals. In a section on virtual meetings that was added for this edition of the book, accessibility seems to fall away a bit, with no acknowledgment that constructive chat, for example, can be a real benefit to virtual spaces for some neurotypes.

Ultimately, I do think a lot of people without strong facilitation skills or a DEI background could benefit from this book. Smutny’s perspective is undoubtedly going to challenge and support some (especially white) leaders, and the brevity of the book will serve those in hurry. But if you’re looking for something really groundbreaking to use in diverse spaces, don’t get too excited about the “radical” promise.

Although I am not a meeting facilitator, I still found this a very helpful book in the art of communication and inclusion.

Filled with tips on how to create a better dialogue within organisations and between people, this book is packed with useful tools and is a lovely little guide not only for facilitators, but for anyone who would like to have better, more engaging and more inclusive conversations.

Dr, Mark Smutny’s book Thrive: The Facilitator’s Guide to Radically Inclusive Meetings is an outstanding resource to help you have not only successful meetings but also meetings where everyone has input in the meetings and their voice in heard. If you have to facilitate meetings, this book is a must-have for you!

Having led and survived meetings of all types and purposes (or lack of purpose) in churches, schools, and hospitals, for years, I found Thrive to be an incredibly useful source of wisdom for what to do right and how to do better. Dr. Smutny's guide provides much-needed perspective, as well as tons of practical strategies for walking the talk of equality and inclusion. If you care about living for the common good, here is a roadmap.
Kent Higgins, PhD, Psychologist, Baystate Medical Center, Springfield, Massachusetts.

An important book focusing on embracing diversity, making the most out of meetings, and ensuring voices are heard. I enjoyed this book, and found it beneficial for employees and business owners/ operators.
Plenty of practical examples.
Thanks to NetGalley for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

A practical guide with valuable insight in improving meetings. Helpful tips and real world examples to create more productive meetings and getting others to engage. Highly recommend to anyone involved in facilitating meetings.

I love the practicality of this book and that's because it can suit two kinds of people; the professional facilitator and the one who loves to have a conversation and the latter may be more.
The major take-aways I got from this book was on the importance of listening, engaging people in dialogue and above all, in not just getting people to interact or communicate but going beyond just talk into action- especially on the topic of strategic plans and management in organizations.
I can't wait to try one of the methods of listening he shares called "fogging: a listening skill used when facing criticism and simply put it means agreeing with anything in the statement a critic makes that is true for you." For example:

Critic: You annoy me with your poor facilitation skills.
Response: I could be a better facilitator

I can't wait to try that one!
Thanks Netgalley and the Publisher for for the eARC