Unlocking the Power of Your Quiet Employees: 3 Strategies for Encouraging Idea Sharing

The secret is they have a TON to contribute. You just need the framework to open up sharing.

3 core foundations:

1. What creating a safe environment actually means
2. How multiple channels help
3. When and how to recognize them

As a business owner, it's important to encourage all of your employees to share their ideas and contribute to your company's success.

If they aren’t doing it, assume it’s you.

But it’s not me…changing your own behavior is the most controllable thing. So still start there.

Some employees may be naturally quieter or more introverted, making it harder for them to speak up and share their thoughts. Here are three ways to help these employees feel more comfortable sharing their ideas.

1. Create a safe environment

One of the biggest reasons quiet employees may not share their ideas is that they don't feel safe or comfortable doing so. Creating a workplace culture that values diversity, inclusivity, and open communication is important.

This can be done by actively:

• Asking everyone in the room for their take
• Always asking each of them a follow-up question to build on their contribution
• Having a way to capture everyone’s contribution

2. Provide multiple channels for communication

Not all employees may feel comfortable speaking up in meetings or group settings. Providing multiple channels for communication:

• Regular meetings (record them and share the recording)
• Email (If you have to…it’s hard for larger conversation)
• Slack (Many-to-many conversations and integrating other communication all in one place)
• Slido (Anonymous is important to have in your framework)

Do this to engage your employees and get the best ideas. In particular, this also allows employees to contribute ideas at their own pace and in a way that feels most comfortable to them.

The specific tools here don’t matter. Use what you like. It’s how they work that matters and having these different approaches all in the mix.

3. Recognize and reward contributions

Finally, it's important to recognize and reward employees who contribute ideas. Even if people don’t say, they like this. Let’s be honest. We ALL like recognition.

Everyone always talks about Town Halls, bonuses, or promotions. The thing is, most of those are slow or vague.

Three simple ways to recognize people today:

1. Give people recognition at the moment
2. Give people recognition right after
3. Write it down and let them know at each 1x1

Taking Action

This might seem obvious. Ask yourself this, do you do this every day? If yes, great, use this as reinforcement to keep on the path. If not, use this as a push to get it going.

Leading teams is a role in itself. This isn’t something you do while doing work. It takes time. So why do it? It’s one of the key multiplying forces for your business.

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