So …

You’re holding a meeting. You just presented details regarding a new corporate-wide initiative. You’re excited because you’re finally giving the team the clarity and direction they’ve been asking for.

After your 10-minute brief, you turn to the group and say, “What do you think? I’d love to hear your thoughts.”

And then you wait. And wait. And wait. Nothing. Crickets.

You try again: “Any concerns?”

Nothing. Even your “SVP of Nothing is Ever Good Enough” is staring at you with a blank face.

You leave the meeting deflated. Frustrated. Hey, even a little sad. You want to work with a team that’s as motivated as you are.

I know what this experience is like. As a facilitator, there’s been a time or two in my career where I felt like I tee’d up a great topic for discussion, but no one wanted to engage. It leaves you in a position of uncertainty and vulnerability, wondering both “What’s wrong with them … and what’s wrong with me?”

The reality is that you probably did nothing wrong. But there are things you could’ve done better.

What I’ve learned is that when you get silence from an audience, it’s not because they hate what you’re doing or are rejecting your ideas. Remember, they’re also in a position of vulnerability. They’re processing what they’ve just heard and they’re hesitant to share because they don’t want to blurt out half-baked ideas.

And I also empathize with you – you need interaction and feedback from your team.
To avoid crickets, I want to give you some tips that will support you and your efforts to cultivate engagement when you’re leading meetings and events.

Here are Three Ideas:

• Assign Read Aheads and Prework. If you’ve got a meeting coming up where you want dialogue, prepare your team with a read ahead or pre-work. Set an expectation a few days before your event that you want a dialogue and give them something to prepare a response to. As an example:

On Monday, we’re going to talk about the business’s new values. I want you to think about what these values look like in action. Please come prepared to share 2-3 examples of what you’re observing. For example, one of our values is “personal integrity.” I want to know what this means to you – what are you seeing each day that represents personal integrity?

• Set Expectations, Including Notetaking, During Meetings. Before you launch into your presentation, give your team a head’s up that you’re going to want to hear their questions at the end of your segment. Hey, even ask them to write down 1-2 questions while they’re listening to you present, so when you end your presentation, you know that you’ve already primed them for a good discussion.

• Ask Better Questions. Rather than general questions like “What do you think?” what about a few more specific, open-ended questions, like:

o What about this topic was new to you?
o What about this new direction is exciting?
o How do you think our clients will react?
o How is this information different than what you were expecting?
o What types of changes do you anticipate you’re going to need to make?
o Where do you think we, as a team, need to change?
o What type of tools or technology do you feel we need to support this new direction?
o What areas need more details?

Bottom line: You can’t control your team. You can control you. When you focus your efforts on creating the right engagement for your team, then you’re priming yourself and your crew for better engagement.

Here’s to better and braver conversations!