Most interactive meetings require all team members to communicate openly about agenda items while participating in decision making and problem solving. Active participation in meetings produces better results than those meetings in which people sit passively listening and providing very little information. Meetings will often have varying levels of participation from team members. Some will speak a lot while others will speak very little or not at all. For those team members who are not interacting with the group, there are some ideas that a team leader may want to try to encourage that person and everyone else to get more involved.

1. If someone gives a good suggestion or relevant information to the team leader before the meeting, ask them to do some research and then present the idea along with their data at the next meeting.
2. Rotate responsibility for facilitating meetings and taking minutes so everyone understands roles. Whenever possible, delegate different agenda items to others in various meetings so everyone has a chance to share and shine.
3. To get everyone involved, call on different people to share their ideas, opinions, and thoughts on issues during the meeting.
4. If someone is not actively participating, look directly at them and use their name when asking a question to encourage a response and increase your level of participation.
5. Note that there is no need to rush through the entire meeting. Be patient and give people time to think and respond to the ideas presented. After a few minutes of silence, ask a question to jump-start the discussion or see if the group wants to move on to a new agenda item.
6. Create a safe and respectful environment for the open exchange of ideas and opinions. One way to do this is to never allow someone’s questions or comments to be belittled; everyone can add value, including devil’s advocate.
7. Take time in the meeting to praise the good work done by employees outside of the meeting. During the meeting, give thanks for sharing. Appreciation makes members feel valued. Valued people are more willing to speak up and share their ideas.
8. If someone seems to be dominating the meeting or discussion, don’t let them go too far. When one person takes over the meeting, other ideas are not shared and it is more difficult to make better decisions, as people can feel intimidated. Instead, thank the speaker for their contribution after a few minutes and then move on to the next topic or ask a more relaxed team member a question.
9. At the end of the meeting, make sure everyone has an action to do after the meeting. There is almost always a need to assign someone a research item before the next meeting and this gives them the opportunity to provide a report or presentation at that meeting.
10. Try to understand why a person does not participate by talking to them outside of meetings. Maybe they are not very interested in being on the team or do not see how they add value to the team. Or their low participation could be because they are not interested in a particular meeting topic or do not see how it affects them directly. Explain why they add value to the team and what benefits they get.

As a team leader, try some of these ideas to get individual team members to communicate more and be actively involved in decision-making and problem solving. Greater interaction is necessary in meetings where better results are desired. Leaders should encourage everyone to participate in meetings and, whenever possible, try to make the distribution of participation levels more equitable.