The Diagram That Started It All - Episode #56

Why Ownership Is Everything in Meaningful Meetings

There are episodes of Talk to Your Meeting Doctors that are rich in tools, others rich in stories, and a few that quietly mark a turning point.
This one belongs to the last category.

The LinkedIn article "The diagram that started it all: why ownership is everything" revisits a deceptively simple visual that became a cornerstone of My Meeting Support — and, more broadly, of the way I think about facilitation, meetings, and shared responsibility.

This blog post is not a repetition of that article. It is a reflection on why this idea matters so deeply, especially now.

A simple diagram, a profound shift

The diagram itself is almost unremarkable at first glance. No complex frameworks. No five-step methodology. No jargon.

And yet, it captures something most meetings fail to address:

Who actually owns what we are doing here?

Not who is responsible in an organisational sense.
Not who is accountable on a RACI chart.
But who genuinely feels psychological ownership of:

• the question being explored,

• the decisions being shaped,

• and the outcomes that follow.

When ownership is missing, meetings drift.
When ownership is present, something clicks — energy, focus, commitment.

Facilitation is not control. It is transfer.

One of the core insights discussed in this episode is that good facilitation is not about holding the room together — it is about knowing when and how to let go.

Too many meetings depend entirely on:

• the chair,

• the facilitator,

• or the most vocal participant.

This creates a fragile system. As soon as that person disengages, the meeting collapses.

Ownership changes that dynamic.

When participants see themselves inside the problem — not merely reacting to it — the meeting stops being an event and starts becoming a shared endeavour.

This is why the diagram mattered.
It made ownership visible.

From "running meetings" to architecting collaboration

This episode sits at the heart of what Architecting Collaboration stands for.

Meetings are not neutral containers.
They are designed systems — whether consciously or by default.

When design ignores ownership:

• decisions feel imposed,

• follow-up evaporates,

• and collaboration becomes performative.

When design centres ownership:

• dialogue deepens,

• responsibility distributes naturally,

• and outcomes travel beyond the room.

This is also why My Meeting Support was never meant to be a marketplace of facilitators alone. It is a space to help organisations rethink how they convene people around what matters.

Why this matters more now than ever

In a world saturated with:

• transformation programmes,

• AI tools,

• and urgent strategic narratives,

the limiting factor is rarely insight.

It is commitment.

And commitment does not come from slides, dashboards, or mandates.
It comes from people recognising themselves in the work.

Ownership is not a "soft" concept.
It is the hidden infrastructure of execution.

A question worth sitting with

I will leave you with the same question that sits quietly behind this episode:

In your most important meetings, who truly owns the conversation — and who is merely attending it?

If this question feels uncomfortable, that is usually a sign it is the right one.

If you have not yet read the original LinkedIn article or listened to the episode, I recommend doing so at your own pace. Some diagrams are not meant to explain things quickly — they are meant to stay with us.