Your team struggles with participation in virtual meetings. How can you empower quieter members to engage?

Confirming that your audience is paying attention to you is very crucial in effective communication. Because communication is not complete when the necessary information is not delivered or it's misunderstood.. That is why we need to engage with our audience by asking follow up questions to keep them attentive.

Effective communication occurs when listeners clearly understand the speaker's intent and active listening is a crucial component of this process. Creating an easy working environment and engaging with team members correctly is necessary to make them feel valued and encourage openness with others.

Silent brainstorming before group brainstorming is powerful. You get more ideas, more diverse ideas, and higher quantity of ideas. Spend even ONE minute allowing people to THINK silently BEFORE you begin the brainstorming process aloud.

Effective meetings require a clear purpose and agenda. Start with a welcome and overview, then discuss each topic while encouraging participation and managing time. Assign action items with deadlines, summarize key points, and follow up with minutes and progress checks. Secure the participation and contribution of every member of the team.

In my current place of employment, we have weekly L10 management meetings. It took a while to get used to the set-up and prepare for the meetings but now I find that they are engaging to everyone in the room. The meeting structure is built so everyone at the table contributes. The meeting starts with an ice breaker, then we each discuss our weekly gains, losses either personal or professional. Then we all take a turn talking about issues/challenges. Everyone is encouraged to engage. Everyone takes a turn. It was hard in the beginning getting a word in with people that were used to meeting together but like any other skill, once you get into practice it gets easier.

In virtual meetings, I often refrain from immediate contributions unless necessary, opting instead to conduct detailed research afterward. I believe others may do the same. To better engage everyone, it’s crucial to follow up with targeted questions or feedback mechanisms, which can encourage thoughtful input and make team members more eager to contribute in the next meeting.

Empower quieter team members by directly inviting their input, using breakout rooms for smaller discussions, and rotating facilitation roles. Encourage the use of chat or polls for those more comfortable with written communication. Acknowledge and validate their contributions to make them feel valued and more confident to participate.