Team Building Tips
Why Doesn’t My Team
Speak Up?

One of the great team building tips I can give you is to learn to facilitate discussion.

Why doesn’t my team speak up in my meetings?

I keep telling them to suggest new things but they just don’t seem to talk!

If you’re facing this challenge, you’re not alone.

In this day and age where innovativeness and change is the norm, it is important that every company learns to utilize the potential of every employee.

That is why there is much talk about building a dynamic team who can brainstorm great ideas together and work collectively as a team these days.

And it is true. Your organization will grow if you learn to harness the potential of every individual.

But then there comes the question, How can I get my team to speak up?

Take heart, I have faced this problem as a leader for many times.

This is especially so in an Asian context, where everyone prefers not to speak up. It is less so in the Western context, but it still exists in several organization with a more traditional mindset.

Sometimes, I speak for about 5 minutes to start off the meeting, and then I ask a question,” What do you think we can do about this?”.

Silence.

Nobody speaks for 10 awkward seconds.

It can be frustrating at times, but you have to understand that you were the one who set the tone.

Therefore you have to be intentional to break the old mindset and culture and move the whole team into a new way of thinking. There are several actions you can take to facilitate constructive discussion in the context of a team.

Here are three valuable team building tips of getting your team to speak up:

Team Building Tip #1: Share all important information with your team.

You have to share all pertinent information with your team members. If you want them to give you quality feedback or ideas, you have to be ready to share the important information with them so that they can make an informed suggestion.

Imagine this, you ask them about ways you can improve the current business structure. Your team member spends about 5 minutes explaining this new idea he has, only to find out that it has been tried before and failed.

Firstly, you waste 5 minutes of everyone’s time; and secondly, you unconsciously make him feel embarrassed for sharing that idea.

And all that can be avoided if you had simply put everyone in context by sharing all that has happened before.

Put everyone on a level playing field so that they can truly suggest ideas that can be constructive and move the organization forward.

Share your important information with them.

Team Building Tip #2: Don’t shoot down bad ideas directly.

It is a tendency for all of us to disagree immediately with ideas we consider to be bad, or not feasible. But when we want a more facilitative environment, we need to consider the feelings of the one who suggested the idea as well.

Instead of approaching with the usual, ” But.” Instead thank the person first for participating in the discussion. Thank him for the idea that he has suggested and talk about improving the idea instead.

The thing is, every idea always has a correct principle behind it; the trick is picking out this principle behind the idea and building on it.

Remember, your other team members are watching too. If you are tough on the person who suggested the idea by being critical or judgmental, you run the risk of no one participating anymore in future discussions.

In a team where discussion is prevalent, there is usually very little fear or tension in the atmosphere. Use your authority as a leader to create that; don’t use it to destroy the atmosphere.

Team Building Tip #3: Express appreciation for their participation.

Always thank people who participate.

You have to show that you appreciate people who speak up, and speak up well. At the end of every discussion on an idea, you could thank the person who suggested it.

Also at the end of the meeting, thank the team members once again for speaking up, if better yet, by name too.

You need to continually show that you value discussion and feedback before your team starts getting the idea that they should be speaking up together.

Changing this culture takes time, but it’s extremely rewarding once you succeed.

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Every good team has similar characteristics. Learn six invaluable characteristics that are required to groom an effective, successful team.

Why Doesn't My Team Speak Up?
Getting your team to speak up is probably one of the greatest challenges you will have as a leader. You need to move your team's mindset from the traditional top-down decision making process into the new paradigm.

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