101: Inclusive meetings
Running an inclusive meeting – where all present feel comfortable contributing and that their input is valued – is part of an inclusive corporate culture. More than just a nice thing to do, inclusive meetings boost employee engagement and help company decision making.
Keep interrupters at bay. If someone interrupts another employee during a meeting, be sure to nip it in the bud. Kathryn Heath and Brenda Wensil of Harvard Business Review suggest saying something like, “Wait a minute, I want to hear more of what Janice has to say,” or “Back up. I am intrigued with what Luke was telling us. Luke, can you finish your thought?”
Avoid conformity bias. Conformity bias is when meeting attendees feel pressured to agree with everyone else in the room. Sending out meeting agendas ahead of time, making clear alternate perspectives are welcome, is one way to work against conformity bias, says Rebekah Bastian at Forbes. “Follow up after the meeting with a recap and a call for additional thoughts,” she advises.
Don’t forget the introverts and remote workers. Extroverts or senior-level employees can tend to dominate meetings. But inclusive meetings should mean everyone is heard, points out Brigid Warmerdam at Salesforce.com. The more perspectives contributed, the better. She notes calling out quiet workers at a meeting by name isn’t recommended, but you can ask them how they would approach a certain problem. Or deliver an invitation to attendees who haven’t spoken up, such as, “For those who haven’t chimed in yet, what are your thoughts?” Remembering to ask for input from team members joining via conference call is a good idea, too, to extend your company’s inclusive practices in a thorough, committed way.
WBJ Web Partners
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Inclusive meetings are good. Inclusive companies are better. Economically engaging employees, treating them like trusted partners, driving and participating in the profitable growth of the company is shown by industry leaders to be even more effective. These articles provide more background: https://hbr.org/2018/01/more-than-a-paycheck http://www.forbes.com/sites/fotschcase/2016/05/31/engage-your-employees… http://scaleups.com/want-to-hang-onto-your-best-employees-do-this-one-t…
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