Virtual and hybrid meetings have made it easier than ever to call meetings - and harder than ever to keep those meetings focused, productive, engaging, and inclusive. Projects pile up, but team headcounts don’t necessarily rise proportionally with the amount of work our departments are asked to do. How do we do it all, while making sure the right people are at the table, and able to participate in a way that is respectful of different abilities, work modalities, schedules, and life responsibilities outside of work? Two librarians from very different academic institutions led a year-long strategic planning project that engaged 13 committee members and spanned 26 different colleges and universities. Along the way, they learned powerful lessons about how project leaders can enable their team members to bring their best selves to collaborative projects - and produce stronger results along the way. It required stepping back from a role of “expert” and embracing the role of “facilitator,” helping guide the team toward a possibly unexpected outcome - one that only becomes possible when an intentionally inclusive team is empowered to speak openly, take risks, and practice bold decision making in a safe space. The presenters will offer 10 concrete strategies, with illustrative examples from their strategic planning project, for inclusive project planning. These strategies can be taken back to participants’ home institutions and immediately applied to their own teams or projects. Participants will be engaged with polls and with a take-home worksheet that will allow them to brainstorm during the session and give them space to reflect further on applying these ideas in the unique environments at their institutions. Both experienced leaders and early career professionals will leave this session with practical tools to make their team meetings and project plans more inclusive, collaborative, and democratic, ultimately resulting in stronger and more creative project outcomes.