The Key to Helping Your Introverted Employees Shine During Team Meetings
As a business leader, you know the value of diversity and having different team personality types. This includes introverts and extroverts – and you’ve hired both because of the unique contributions they could make and the potential they had to contribute to your business.
Nonetheless, it can be challenging to create an environment, especially during a team meeting, where introverts and extroverts are comfortable sharing their ideas.
Not always ready or able to speak up, introverts may wind up being overshadowed by their more outgoing peers and keep their best insights and suggestions to themselves. Here are some ideas to help draw them out and find that balance:
Getting The Best Out of Your Introverted Employees in Meetings
Send Out Agendas Ahead of Time
This is helpful to everyone, but often even more so to introverts, because it gives them more time to prepare and process information before meetings are underway. You may even want to go a step further and ask introverts to collaborate on agendas or help facilitate meetings. Providing this ownership may be just what they need to speak up more readily.
Speak to Introverts One-on-One
Along with that advance agenda, remember that introverts are most comfortable in calm, quiet environments. So take time to speak with them in advance of team meetings. Keep it low pressure and casual. For instance, you may open your conversation with something like, “Did you get my meeting agenda? What do you think? I’m looking for ideas to make it as productive as possible.”
Make Time for Introverts to Shine
Especially if a person has previously articulated their ideas to you one on one, you may need to simply create an opportunity for them to speak up before a group, without overshadowing them. By inviting introverts to share and present their ideas, you can help them build their comfort level.
- You may also want to carve out meeting time for everyone to reflect on critical questions and issues. Avoid meetings turning into a competition for who gets to speak next. Perhaps the introverts on your team can learn something from their quieter counterparts, who already appreciate having quiet time to spark their creative insights.
Don’t Ignore Introverts
This sounds obvious: you don’t intend to ignore anyone. But when you’re responsible for keeping a meeting moving in a timely fashion, quiet team members may fall by the wayside and go unnoticed, and, before you know it, time’s up. So, whatever approach is necessary, be sure you make a conscious effort to reach out to the less vocal people on your team.
Looking to Build Success for Yoursef, Your Employees and Your Company?
Team building, holding effective meetings, and optimizing workforce productivity are some workforce development strengths that working with a professional employer organization (PEO) can add to your company and its ongoing success. To learn more about the benefits of a PEO partnership, Contact Key HR today!
- Posted by admin
- On February 22, 2023
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