Engaging all team members
If we notice that one person in lacking in participation, what is the best way to handle this without having to single that person out?
Tu,
One idea is to distribute the expectations for every role at a meeting and tell the group that you will be having individual conversations with each of them to discuss their progress. This enables you to give encouragement, praise, directing, or coaching as necessary to each person privately. Give it a try and let me know what happens.
Dr. Jamie Morley
This is a great question. A person might be lacking in participation for a few different reasons. I would think the first step would be to figure out why they are not participating. Are they bored? Do they not care about the team/meeting? Maybe the person is confused and is not following what is going on. Do they need clarification? Or maybe they are just having a bad day and need some time to not participate. I think we have all been there. The best option is once you have figured out why they are not participating, to see what you can do to help increase their participation.
kate,
Insightful response. I agree with your comments. How would you go about trying to determine the true reasons for the employee’s nonparticipation?
Dr. Jamie Morley
people come to us with diverse backgrounds and in some cases with predetermined outcomes. We need to take a very informative. look at what each individual is bringing and evaluate how their participation is going to connect the group. Engage each member on their own objects and make sure that your egagements are aimed at your end result. It must be everyones input that not onlt is fullfilling to each other but for the teams total solution.
KIM,
You make several good points. A manager should learn the employee’s strengths and weaknesses. Also, helping employees to see how their visions impact the project is a great way to get commitment. How have you seen that done at your organization?
Dr. Jamie Morley
I have seen this at my organization. My manager encourages each team member to bring up ideas or solutions. With these ideas we can tweak or fine tune it as a team or pilot it to see if it works. What I like about this method is that it brings out openness and trust that you need to have in a great team. Each team member has to have trust if not then the team falls apart.
Joe,
Building and maintaining trust is an ongoing process that requires frequent and consistent attention.
Ron Obstfeld
