Get them involved

I occasionally do shadow coaching with my clients. Shadow coaching can shortly be described as when the coach works side by side with the client, eg at the client' s office.
A few weeks ago I worked with a client on his skills on how to lead a team meating. What we discovered was that he did a lot of preparation before the meeting. That is okay, but his team members did bring the same reports to the meeting - so the same work was done twice.

During the meeting my client talked, talked and talked. He went through all the reports, sometimes he asked questions like why is this number low or what are you going to do about it. His team sat mostly quiet and digested the lecture - passively and looking somewhat bored.

After some coaching he made some drastic changes in how he lead the meetings. Now he asks his team members to come really well prepared to the meetings, so that everyone could make a short presentation about their own reports and the action steps they have designed.
The dynamics of the meetings changed immediately to a more active and positive one. Everyone thought this was a good idea, and the leader, my client, was very happy when he dared to let go of the lecture mode and the control. He saved a lot of time and got his team involved and to own their results and the needed action steps.

They decided also to keep the "report" part as short as possible and concentrate on building their businesses, inspiring each other and planning the future together.

Where can you get your team more involved in their own work?