How often to you call a meeting to discuss an important issue or opportunity and only the usual suspects speak up. Everyone else is quiet and their experience and opinions go unheard. Truly leveraging the power of the team and meaningful contribution is the key to meeting success. Here are three simple ways to get people involved:
Don’t dominate
This not only gives others less time to speak up but also conveys that only your ideas are important. Let at least three people speak before you talk again.
Be positive
Demonstrate that all ideas are valuable by restating important points. Thank people who are usually reticent for their comments.
Ask directly
To get input from everyone, ask each person for their thoughts. Don’t do it in a confrontational way. Try, “Do you have anything to share?”
My experience has been that the greatest challenge to active participation by all attendees at meeting is in fact the facilitators/ chairs themselves. I hypothesise this is for two key reasons. One is that attendees need to feel they have the relevant facts to form an opinion – it is difficult if these are not shared in advance and time provided to reflect. Not all people are confident and able to digest information real time. Second, facilitators themselves need to have confidence to allow moments of silence during meetings (and it does take practice and confidence – trust me!). My own experience has been that it is at these times that those who tend to be quieter will speak up because they feel they have the opportunity to do so. Being mindful of both these observations has certainly improved my ability to facilitate more engaging meetings and deliver better outcomes.