Speak up in meetings

I was interested when two different clients from two different cities came to their sessions with the same issue. Both of them were concerned that their “personal brand” was not being promoted during team meetings. 

Both of them described situations where they felt they were being overlooked because those who spoke first or spoke often seemed to have a higher profile within the team and, more importantly, with the boss. 

Both these clients were very capable and good at their jobs and they were introverts.  They were the ones on the team who were reflective and needed to think things over before they responded. As a result, they got talked over and sometimes couldn’t get a word in edgeways! They felt overlooked.

We worked on a number of solutions and both clients reported improvements in their participation in meetings. They started to feel like real contributors to the team. 

While staff members can take actions to speak up, if team leaders don’t have strategies to give everyone a chance to put their ideas forward, they can miss the top ideas.

Are you getting valuable contributions in meetings or are they hidden in the quiet people on your team, never to see the light of day?  

Download the 4 strategies we came up with to help elicit responses from everyone in meetings here.