In every meeting, amazing ideas go unspoken.
While extroverts share their thoughts confidently, introverts hold themselves back. They’ve got buckets of value to add, yet they get drowned out in a busy meeting. As a manager, you need to give everyone an equal voice, otherwise, decisions will be based on half the available data.
This article explains five techniques I’ve found invaluable for helping quieter team members to share their thoughts.
1. Use a Writing-Based Meeting Format
Most meetings are a noisy free-for-all.
Confident people dominate the airtime, leaving no space for quieter people to share their perspectives. To create a level playing field, try using a meeting format that places less emphasis on talking.
Here are two simple formats for gathering ideas through writing:
Brainwriting — Pose a question to your team and ask them to write ideas on an index card. After 5 minutes, everyone passes their card to a neighbour. For the next 5 minutes, they add more ideas to the card, inspired by the existing contents. Repeat this as many times as you want, and then collect the cards and talk through them.
Post-it Notes — Any brainstorming or feedback session can be tackled with Post-It Notes. Instead of shouting out ideas, ask your team to write notes and stick them to the wall. After 10 minutes, assign a moderator to narrate the notes and group them by themes.
New formats are fun for everyone in your team, not just the introverts you seek to help. Try a few different options and mix it up to keep it interesting.