Are you noticing these signs and symptoms in your meetings:

• Awkward silences at critical moments when you have a gut hunch people have volumes to say…

• Sideways glances checking out if it’s ‘O.K.” to speak up

• Tension and formality as people try to be perfectly politically correct

If you are experiencing this, you are not alone.

In thousands of meetings all over the world people are afraid to participate fully. Sure, they have contributions, ideas and opinions–but they are too concerned with saying the right thing–so they don’t say anything.

And here’s why:

Political correctness really means it’s not safe to speak up. If your organizational environment is like this–what can you do?

First, do some advance sleuth work. Find out what’s happened before this meeting. Is there a piece of personal, departmental or organizational history that could influence the meeting?

Get to know the players. Who is coming to the meeting–are there people at very different levels of the organization all in one room? What relationships or tensions do you need to pay attention to?

If you are in a challenging or unsafe environment, it’s better to know before you walk in the room.

Second, get on the planning team. Discuss with team members what can be done to adjust the agenda. Organize sections of the meeting to encourage open discussion with partners, small groups and sub-teams.

Third, get an external facilitator. If you have a very ‘hot’ situation, look for an experience meeting facilitator who is outside of your organization. They can manage the process, focus on tasks and guide group decision-making.

Many groups try to cut corners and avoid hiring an external facilitator. They figure, why should we spend the bucks when we’ve got folks here who could do the job and know our content?

That’s precisely why. If your internal facilitator is super familiar with the content–they are likely to want to jump in and give their opinion.

If this happens, you’ve just lost your facilitator and gained another participant. With a professional external facilitator, this won’t be the case.

Plus if there are people who are much more senior in the meeting–even a skilled internal facilitator may be more cautious about confronting tough spots.

It’s only natural. If you’re working in an organization, you never know if the person you’re dealing with could be your next boss!

Use these 3 tips and go shake it up. Get people talking and sharing ideas. Yes you can stop the deadly disease of safety in silence. Imagine how much is possible when ideas are flowing, and participants get engaged.

Is Your Meeting Suffering From This Deadly Disease?

Are you noticing these signs and symptoms in your meetings:

• Awkward silences at critical moments when you have a gut hunch people have volumes to say…

• Sideways glances checking out if it’s ‘O.K.” to speak up

• Tension and formality as people try to be perfectly politically correct

If you are experiencing this, you are not alone.

In thousands of meetings all over the world people are afraid to participate fully. Sure, they have contributions, ideas and opinions–but they are too concerned with saying the right thing–so they don’t say anything.

And here’s why:

Political correctness really means it’s not safe to speak up. If your organizational environment is like this–what can you do?

First, do some advance sleuth work. Find out what’s happened before this meeting. Is there a piece of personal, departmental or organizational history that could influence the meeting?

Get to know the players. Who is coming to the meeting–are there people at very different levels of the organization all in one room? What relationships or tensions do you need to pay attention to?

If you are in a challenging or unsafe environment, it’s better to know before you walk in the room.

Second, get on the planning team. Discuss with team members what can be done to adjust the agenda. Organize sections of the meeting to encourage open discussion with partners, small groups and sub-teams.

Third, get an external facilitator. If you have a very ‘hot’ situation, look for an experience meeting facilitator who is outside of your organization. They can manage the process, focus on tasks and guide group decision-making.

Many groups try to cut corners and avoid hiring an external facilitator. They figure, why should we spend the bucks when we’ve got folks here who could do the job and know our content?

That’s precisely why. If your internal facilitator is super familiar with the content–they are likely to want to jump in and give their opinion.

If this happens, you’ve just lost your facilitator and gained another participant. With a professional external facilitator, this won’t be the case.

Plus if there are people who are much more senior in the meeting–even a skilled internal facilitator may be more cautious about confronting tough spots.

It’s only natural. If you’re working in an organization, you never know if the person you’re dealing with could be your next boss!

Use these 3 tips and go shake it up. Get people talking and sharing ideas. Yes you can stop the deadly disease of safety in silence. Imagine how much is possible when ideas are flowing, and participants get engaged.

Is Your Meeting Suffering From This Deadly Disease?

Are you noticing these signs and symptoms in your meetings:

• Awkward silences at critical moments when you have a gut hunch people have volumes to say…

• Sideways glances checking out if it’s ‘O.K.” to speak up

• Tension and formality as people try to be perfectly politically correct

If you are experiencing this, you are not alone.

In thousands of meetings all over the world people are afraid to participate fully. Sure, they have contributions, ideas and opinions–but they are too concerned with saying the right thing–so they don’t say anything.

And here’s why:

Political correctness really means it’s not safe to speak up. If your organizational environment is like this–what can you do?

First, do some advance sleuth work. Find out what’s happened before this meeting. Is there a piece of personal, departmental or organizational history that could influence the meeting?

Get to know the players. Who is coming to the meeting–are there people at very different levels of the organization all in one room? What relationships or tensions do you need to pay attention to?

If you are in a challenging or unsafe environment, it’s better to know before you walk in the room.

Second, get on the planning team. Discuss with team members what can be done to adjust the agenda. Organize sections of the meeting to encourage open discussion with partners, small groups and sub-teams.

Third, get an external facilitator. If you have a very ‘hot’ situation, look for an experience meeting facilitator who is outside of your organization. They can manage the process, focus on tasks and guide group decision-making.

Many groups try to cut corners and avoid hiring an external facilitator. They figure, why should we spend the bucks when we’ve got folks here who could do the job and know our content?

That’s precisely why. If your internal facilitator is super familiar with the content–they are likely to want to jump in and give their opinion.

If this happens, you’ve just lost your facilitator and gained another participant. With a professional external facilitator, this won’t be the case.

Plus if there are people who are much more senior in the meeting–even a skilled internal facilitator may be more cautious about confronting tough spots.

It’s only natural. If you’re working in an organization, you never know if the person you’re dealing with could be your next boss!

Use these 3 tips and go shake it up. Get people talking and sharing ideas. Yes you can stop the deadly disease of safety in silence. Imagine how much is possible when ideas are flowing, and participants get engaged.

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