What are the best strategies to get a participant to open up and share their ideas?

Lead by example is a strategy to establish rapport. Share your thoughts or experiences to break the ice and make others feel more comfortable doing the same. This approach not only humanizes you in the eyes of your participants but also sets a tone of openness and vulnerability, encouraging others to follow suit. Demonstrating that it’s safe to share personal insights or uncertainties can significantly lower barriers to participation, fostering a culture of trust and mutual respect within the group.

Building an open and trusting environment is key. Ask open-ended questions, actively listen without judgment, and use positive reinforcement for contributions. Share your own experiences to set the tone, and consider facilitation techniques like brainstorming or small group discussions to encourage participation and diverse perspectives.

Introductions are safe ways to get people to speak up. After that, you need to provide a safe environment so that people speak up without worrying about being attacked. In preparation, I interview all participants. That helps establish a rapport and helps me understand any underlying issues that may stifle participation.

Rapport is something essential in all situations. People need to feel safe to open up and that they can trust you and the others in the session. There are many different ways to build rapport but fundamentally its based on being human, trust worthy and open. One key consideration, especially in a mixed race /cultural group is to be aware of cultural norms and expectations - what could establish rapport in one culture could be seen as an insult / destructive of any relationship in another. Rapport building needs to be culturally sensitive and adapted to the paerticipants

In my experience I find that warming up the group by giving participants opportunities to engage early through polls, personal introductions, prompt questions, helps open space and expectation that you want participants to contribute ideas and perspectives. I focus on giving the group easy ways to contribute that gets all voices heard early in the session. This makes it more likely that participants will continue to contribute throughout the session.

In my experience combining open and closed ended questions can help get people to share their ideas. For example starting with an open ended question, hearing from a few participants. Then asking a question to survey the group like “who has a different perspective” and then asking an open ended question. This gives an opportunity for those who may feel differently about a topic express their views.

Open-ended questions are good to support divergent thinking and sometimes it's helpful to focus on smaller areas of the challenge / problem / topic rather than go for the whole global challenge.

By providing a safe space for expression, individuals can gather their thoughts without feeling interrogated. Tailoring questions to invite exploration rather than demand answers fosters comfort and openness. Some thrive with direct inquiries, while others flourish when given room to reflect. Recognizing the diverse spectrum of personalities and concerns is essential to unraveling rich insights and fostering genuine engagement.

Open-ended questions are instrumental in facilitation as they encourage discussion, exploration, and deeper reflection among participants. Here are some examples of open-ended questions suitable for facilitation: "Can you describe your understanding of [concept]?" "What do you think are the main challenges facing us in this situation?" "In what ways might we approach this problem differently?" "What are some possible solutions we haven't considered yet?" "What factors do you believe contributed to [outcome]?" "What are the potential benefits and drawbacks of [idea]?" These questions invite participants to share their perspectives, insights, and ideas freely, fostering a collaborative and engaging environment

Active listening helps establish a common ground that the facilitator is genuinely interested to explore their perspectives and values their contributions. It is indeed respectful when someone is valuing opinions and voice which makes the contributions more fluid.

Absolutely ! Always acknowledge participant’s contributions and use positive words to thank them which makes them feel valued and keeps the conversation flowing in the right direction.

In planning for facilitation, we should also ensure that our facilitation skills, our content, our content, delivery approach, and any other tools and methods that we are using are accessible to persons with disabilities. I tried to ask myself when I am planning what does this activity require of the person, what does this activity assume of the person? And perhaps more importantly, what can I do to alter or revise this activity, or my approach that invites to the table more people than it leaves behind. We must recognize accessibility, isn’t a favor, but a critical tool for widescale successes

There are 2 types of people: Those who need to speak to think, and those who need to think before speaking! In any meeting or session, we will naturally hear more from the first group, and miss out on the thoughts of the second one... One technique that I have seen work amazingly well to get people to share their ideas is "silent brainstorming" - giving the group 10-15 min where everyone gets to write down their thoughts/ideas and put them on a board, but where the whole group has to stay silent. This gives the second group more space to express themselves without being distracted by the noise or opinions of other participants; and lets everyone deep dive into their own train of thoughts - which also help with getting better outputs.

I think it's important not to conflate ideation techniques (brainstorming, icebreakers, reverse brainstorming etc) with getting an individual to open up. Any of these techniques might be effective ideation techniques, however, just because they are effective at generating ideas, does not mean that someone will actually open up and share any ideas. The sharing of ideas might require a participant to feel safe in order to share. It might be that individual and silent ideation might help, breaking out into smaller groups, sharing asynchronously before a session, using the 'Private' setting during an ideation session in Mural (if it's virtual) might help etc.

Here are some more ways of involving participants during a training session- 1. Appoint a different leader/spokeperson for group activities to avoid more talkative people dominating the discussion. 2. Solicit inputs/questions via chat/reactions online and during breaks/after the session from the quieter ones. 3. Tell the participants not only at the start, but also from time to time during the session that everyone benefits from questions and discussing differents POVs and they are welcome. 4. Pause from time to time as not everyone likes to interrupt. 5. Encourage/reward participants who share unconventional ideas or dissenting views.

"Think Wrong" techniques have helped me facilitate large groups to think way beyond their current limitations and beliefs and adopting the perspective of different characters (eg Richard Branson, Mickey Mouse, Albert Einstein, President, 7 year old child) has opened ups ideas that would otherwise not have been accessible

Facilitators need to play a proactive role in balancing voices in the room. It’s easy for a few vocal participants to dominate group discussions and activities. Facilitation techniques like turn taking, timed contributions, establishing talking order (reverse alphabetical order according to first name for example) can balance air time. Establish expectations upfront, including interrupting participants if needed.

We often underestimate patience. Recognize that some individuals need more time to process their thoughts or gather the courage to speak up. Don't rush this process. Sometimes this requires facilitators to revisit their methods to accommodate a more patient process.

Giving time and space and different ways for people to explore and create ideas is important - the design of any facilitation session needs to include plenty of time for the subconscious (maybe with a helpful question, eg how can we....?) to work it's magic and come to a solution that would otherwise not be possible in a time pressured situation

In my experience it is important to use interactive ways to elicit participant’s responses. Use polls, quizzes, chat box to have ample opportunities for the participants to share their examples, thoughts which makes the conversation true to life and also helps being inclusive.

Below are few insights that have worked really well with me. Set Clear Expectations: Let participants know that their contributions are valued and important for the success of the session. Provide Structure: This helps prevent dominant individuals from monopolizing the conversation and ensures that everyone has an opportunity to contribute. Encourage Diverse Perspectives: Emphasize the importance of diverse perspectives and encourage participants to share their unique viewpoints, experiences, and ideas. Lead by Example: Demonstrate openness and vulnerability by sharing your own ideas, experiences, and uncertainties. This can encourage participants to follow suit and feel more comfortable sharing their thoughts.