Do you get frustrated when people just sit in your meetings, never participating or offering ideas?
You’ve gone to so much trouble to prepare and conduct the meetings and they don’t say a thing. Aren’t they interested?
What’s happening is a very natural human dynamic. Once you understand the dynamic, it’s easy to recognize and control.
You’re going to learn how to solve this problem forever.
Why Is This Happening?
Your people probably see your meetings as presentations.
You’re presenting. They’re listening and absorbing.
If they’re going to ask a question or make a comment, they may be concerned about making a fool of themselves and whether the information is relevant to others.
The easy choice is just to keep quiet.
We know our people have great ideas and can really make things happen when they get focused.
We as Management are “walking the talk” in terms of getting everyone together to communicate, fix problems, and get organized. But our efforts seem to be wasted because no one says anything in the meetings.
It can be very frustrating.
What To Do About This?
The way to get participation is to ask questions.
If you ask a specific person a specific question, they’ll almost always respond.
Try it.
You’ll see how powerful this is.
A Supervisor holding a Gainsharing Meeting at one of our clients tried this technique with immediate results.
In the Gainsharing Meeting with the employees the Supervisor, who was the presenter for the meeting, asked “What do you do to make sure the job traveler paperwork matches the parts it refers to?”
No one said anything.
He then asked, “Jane, what do you do to make sure the paperwork matches.” Jane launched into a terrific summary of her “routine” to make sure everything was in order with a given job before she begins her work.
What she had to say was impressive.
It seemed that the others were now thinking of the things they do to make sure the paperwork is always correct and silently hoping that the leader would call on them so they could get in on this conversation. It turned the whole vibe of the meeting around.
I’m sure others learned from what she had to say. Yet a moment before, (when no one responded to the question), it seemed as though no one had anything to say about avoiding this problem.
Brain Structure
Our brains are “designed” to respond to questions. Ask a question and a listener’s brain begins to assemble a response/answer. It’s innate. Hardwired.
This isn’t enough to get participation in a meeting though. You must address the question to a specific person. This makes it clear that you’re expecting a response from them.
Your Homework
If you’re not getting participation in your meetings ask yourself “Am I asking questions?”
- If you are asking questions and they’re still not responding, take it to the next level by asking a specific person.
- If people are not participating and offering ideas in your meetings, it may be because you’re not asking any questions. You may be the cause of the problem that you’re so frustrated about!
Now you understand the dynamics behind getting people to “speak up” in meetings.
You’ll be more confident as a presenter because you know how to drive participation when it’s needed.
