Turn off the transcript
Most teams never decided to record their meetings. It just became the default. AI meeting assistants and auto-transcription made it frictionless, so nobody questioned it. But knowing a conversation is being recorded changes it, subtly and reliably. People hedge. They perform. The real conversation happens after the call ends. Try it when you notice people are careful rather than candid, or when sensitive conversations feel like they're being managed rather than had.
How to run it
Start by removing transcription from your most sensitive meetings. If psychological safety feels genuinely low across the team, try going fully recording-free for a period and see what shifts.
Identify which meetings carry the most emotional weight: retros, 1:1s, team check-ins, anything where honesty matters most.
Turn off recording and transcription for those sessions. That includes AI meeting assistants.
If the team feels like things are really not being said, extend it: no recording on any team call for a set period.
Agree as a team how you'll capture decisions and actions instead. A short written summary after the call works well.
Run it for the agreed period without reverting, even if it feels uncomfortable at first.
Recommended time
4 weeks.
What to notice
Are people saying things in meetings they wouldn't have before?
Is anything getting lost without transcripts, or less than expected?
Are written summaries capturing what actually matters?
What this might move
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