Most meetings are designed around content. Someone presents, everyone else listens, and contribution is invited at the end with: “Any questions?”

By then, it may be too late.

Chad Littlefield believes connection is not the warm-up before the real work. It is part of the work — particularly when leaders need people to think together, speak honestly and collaborate beyond their usual teams.

Chad is the co-founder and Chief Experience Officer of We and Me, a TEDx speaker, and the co-author with his late partner, Will Wise, of Ask Powerful Questions and How to Make Virtual Engagement Easy. He also created the We! Connect Cards, which are used in more than 80 countries.

We explore how leaders can invite contribution earlier, create connection without resorting to awkward or unrelated icebreakers, and design meetings that feel more purposeful from the moment people arrive.

We also talk about a challenge I see frequently in organisations: leaders may have strong relationships within their own functions, yet struggle to build the horizontal connections needed to deliver strategy. Chad shares a practical idea for helping those relationships continue after an offsite or senior leader forum — rather than leaving everyone with good intentions that disappear once they return to work.

In this episode, we cover:

• Why connection shapes the quality of the work that follows
• What changes when leaders design for contribution rather than passive listening
• How Chad’s Contribution Method rethinks the flow of a meeting
• Why “connection before content” is different from an icebreaker
• How a simple shift in format can change the energy in a room
• Why teams need the right amount of connection — not necessarily more
• How to extend cross-functional relationships beyond a one-off event
• The question Chad believes can keep a team learning

If you lead meetings, bring large groups together or want stronger collaboration across boundaries, Chad offers a different way to think about the time people spend together.

And he leaves us with a question that is worth returning to — as leaders, as teams and as human beings.

Chapters

• 00:00 – Why connection is part of the work
• 03:00 – Chad Littlefield’s work and why connection matters
• 04:20 – Where Chad’s interest in connection began
• 09:00 – Positive social risks and Chad’s first speaking opportunity
• 12:00 – Why small groups are the units of transformation
• 16:00 – The five-part Contribution Method
• 20:00 – Connection before content
• 23:00 – Designing content for contribution
• 27:00 – How to close a meeting with energy
• 29:00 – Applying the method in everyday meetings
• 40:00 – The minimum effective dose of team connection
• 45:00 – Making cross-functional connection continue after an event
• 48:00 – The question that keeps a team learning
• 49:30 – AI, speed and the value of slowing down
• 51:00 – Being purposeful about time away from work

Links and Resources:

• We and Me / Chad Littlefield
• We! Connect Cards
• Ask Powerful Questions by Will Wise and Chad Littlefield
• How to Make Virtual Engagement Easy by Chad Littlefield
• Explore more leadership resources from Thriving Culture