Written by CultureCon Guest Blogger Beth Ridley, of Beth Ridley Consulting.
According to a recent Forbes report, employees spend between 35%-50% of their workday in meetings. That may sound awful, but it’s also an opportunity to use all that meeting time to foster a culture of belonging. Companies where employees feel a strong sense of belonging are 35 percent more likely to outperform their competition and achieve increased innovation, greater success with recruiting and retaining talent and greater financial returns. Are your meetings as inclusive as they could be? Reflect on the last meeting you were in. Was it high energy with an active exchange of diverse ideas? Or did people hesitate to speak up and when they did, they simply reinforced whatever the most senior person in the room said?
If your meetings can use an infusion of inclusion, here are five easy to implement ideas to help.
Focus on the “what”, not the “how”: At start of meetings, reinforce how the meeting aligns with a shared vision, mission and purpose to unify everyone around “good commonalities” while being open to diverse perspectives and approaches to achieve shared goals.
Invite input: Practice asking, “what do you think?” more often during meetings to encourage ideas. And remember to be open to what you hear by seeking to understand, not to agree. Assume you can always learn even when you don’t always agree.
Listen and repeat: Challenge yourself to be the last person to speak up in meetings to minimize the tendency for others to agree with the boss. Challenge yourself to repeat what you heard after someone speaks to reinforce you were listening and accurately understanding.
Ensure everyone has an opportunity to contribute: Do not assume someone’s silence means they agree with the discussion or they have nothing to contribute. Instead, intentionally invite those who have not spoken to share their thoughts. Routinely ask if anyone has anything else to add before ending a meeting.
Integrate team building into every meeting: Team building should not be a one and done experience, but should be maintained on an ongoing basis. Find ways to incorporate relationship building into the day-to-day work experiences. Carve out a few minutes at the end of meetings to have colleagues share about interests, hobbies, traditions or bucket-list items.
Whether your meetings are virtual, in-person or hybrid, we are in them a lot! Small steps implemented consistently can make your meetings more impactful and begin to transform your overall culture – one meeting at a time.
About the Author
Beth Ridley is a former corporate executive turned organizational transformation consultant, speaker and author. Beth combines 25 years of global leadership and management consulting experience with expertise in diversity and inclusion and positive psychology to partner with leaders to transform workplace cultures to better achieve their vision and goals. Beth’s work is featured in national publications and she frequently delivers keynotes and workshops at events around the world. Beth lives with her husband and three children in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.