A team member feels left out of decision-making discussions. How can you ensure their voice is heard?

Foster an environment that invites input from everyone, including quieter members. Encourage open communication and emphasize that every opinion matters. When everyone feels included from the start, they'll be more likely to participate actively in decision-making.

Ensuring everyone's voice is heard is crucial, as everyone wants to feel valued. When seeking feedback, don't only turn to the more outspoken people. Remember that every team member, including quieter ones, has valuable insights. Level the playing field by ensuring everyone feels empowered to share their thoughts. This fosters a more inclusive and effective team dynamic.

It seems in 2024, active listening is a lost art, or worse it is not considered a positive trait. Most meetings have multiple people talking over others. Someone will make a good point that was made previously by other speakers, and the rest will hear the comment for the first time. I have found a good way to promote active listening is to try the improvisation technique called "yes, and". This promotes listening, commenting, and adding to what was said. This can promote positive group dynamics because this action shows the participant hearing what was said, acknowledging the comment, and adding their own hopefully insightful contribution. I like to ask a volunteer to summarize the main action points of the meeting at the end.

Active listening is crucial for making team members feel heard. Give your full attention when someone speaks, acknowledge their points, and take their suggestions seriously. This shows respect and encourages continued sharing. Paraphrasing or summarizing their input further demonstrates understanding and appreciation

I have found that in leading teams, the most quiet and reserved team members are often secretly very willing to share their perspectives, but for many reasons, they defer to the more vocal team members. They want to contribute but must be asked to share their contributions. Once they have a positive experience in contributing, I make it a point to prompt them in 1:1 calls to share an experience (client sales interactions or working with difficult internal teams are good examples) before the next meeting. Soon, I have to do less to pull out their voice. However, I find that it's good to check in with them privately and give regular encouragement. I myself tend to be reminded I share to little, so I can relate.

Rotating leadership and facilitation roles within the team allows everyone to experience leading the decision-making process, fostering a sense of ownership. This practice helps quieter members build confidence and encourages them to share their perspectives. By giving each person a turn to steer discussions, you reinforce the value of all contributions and promote diverse viewpoints

◼️Sesiones de Feedback Canvas Organiza talleres de retroalimentación estructurada utilizando la técnica del "Feedback Canvas". En estas sesiones, cada idea se descompone en sus elementos fundamentales en un "lienzo" visual, donde los compañeros pueden agregar sus comentarios, preguntas y sugerencias. Esto no solo ayuda a visualizar el proceso de pensamiento detrás de cada propuesta, sino que también promueve una discusión más profunda y detallada. ◼️Entrenamiento en Empatía y Comunicación Ofrece talleres regulares sobre cómo dar y recibir comentarios de manera efectiva y empática. Estos deberían incluir role-playing y simulaciones, donde practiquen la entrega de comentarios difíciles de una manera que sea constructiva y respetuosa

Do you gravitate to meetings with leaders who get things done and end all meetings early so that we can discuss the next steps? I do, too, but I am often still guilty as a leader or participant in team meetings of ignoring my own rules too often. I like to end each meeting 5 minutes early and get a consensus from the group regarding the action items and who from the call is responsible for advancing the action item and reporting back in MSFT Team or some other tool. It's funny to me that in GSIs or Enterprise Software firms with all these great PMOs on staff, we suddenly turn off the organization & accountability side of our brain when it comes to internal team calls. Which is often why many discussions never seem to land.