by Laura Ross for Thomas.net
It’s 9:30 a.m. on a Monday. Time for your weekly team meeting and the one opportunity you have to get a clear sense of everyone’s progress. During these sessions, you want attendees to communicate what they’ve achieved and the difficulties they’ve faced in the past seven days, so you can establish how best to help or guide them.
But alas, you already suspect Peter will talk too much, and Ravneet will talk too little — if at all. You’ll spend a good chunk of the meeting trying to mitigate the ever-escalating tensions between Ann and Carlos, who seem incapable of agreeing on anything, and another chunk glaring across the room at Eleanor, who you know will open WhatsApp the moment she sits down and fail to listen to a single word anyone says.
Making sure everyone’s voice is heard during a team meeting can be tough. There will be the odd employee who is lazy, difficult, or disinterested, but, in most cases, the biggest challenge comes with balancing the bigger personalities alongside the more introverted ones. The latter group isn’t at fault, so it’s important to employ strategies that empower them to speak up, rather than cause them additional pressure and stress. The following techniques may help.
1. Hold Meetings with Smaller Groups
The more reserved or introverted members of your team may feel overwhelmed in large team meetings, particularly if there are some very dominant voices to contend with. These employees won’t fight to be heard, but that doesn’t mean they don’t have plenty of useful ideas to share.
Consider establishing smaller focus groups or holding more frequent one-on-ones, which will provide ample opportunities for everyone to contribute. You could also encourage employees to submit input via email either before or after the meeting.