Your employees or team members have valuable things to say. If you put effort into making meetings more inclusive, then you might gain some insight that you never would have gotten otherwise. Companies that let meetings be dominated by the usual voices will only ever get the same perspectives about a given topic. More inclusive meetings will be a breath of fresh air and you should try to make sure that everyone is getting involved in various discussions.
Talk to Everyone Before Having a Discussion
One great way to get everyone involved in a meeting is to ask them to speak and give opinions before discussing a topic. You could try to ensure that everyone has a little time to talk at the beginning of a meeting. Even just a couple minutes of outlining opinions could help to get them used to talking in this setting. It improves the inclusiveness of your meeting and should lead to more fruitful meetings in the future.
Using Amplification
Some people get fed up with meetings when someone winds up stealing an idea and getting credit. You can avoid problems such as this by using the amplification technique. This involves having everyone talk about an idea that has been presented to see where improvements can be made. It also helps people to own their ideas and it shows that your team can work together to make things even better.
Have People Write Down Thoughts Before the Meeting
Having people write down thoughts before the meeting might also be helpful. Your employees could be given a list of potential talking points ahead of time. This will give them time to prepare a few opinions and they can go over any material that they might need to learn about. It will make sure that everyone is prepared for a discussion and it’ll increase the chances that everyone will want to contribute to the conversation.