In team meetings, how good are you at creating an environment where everyone is comfortable participating?

Our reader poll today asks: In team meetings, how good are you at creating an environment where everyone is comfortable participating?

• I’m great at it. Everyone offers their thoughts and I just guide the discussion: 17.95%
• I’m good at it. Most people offer thoughts and I drive some of the discussion: 58.98%
• I’m OK at it. I drive a lot of the discussion and offer some time for input: 17.44%
• I’m not good at it. I have to actively remind myself to create space and not dominate the discussion: 5.12%
• I’m poor at it. I dominate the discussion and no one feels comfortable joining in: 0.51%

Know your role. Most of you self-report that you’re pretty good at creating an environment where people feel comfortable participating in your meetings. Recognize that you might feel this way but they might not. A key to running collaborative meetings is clearly defining your role in leading it. If you want to create that collaborative environment, designate yourself as a facilitator. Challenge yourself to only ask questions or hold yourself to asking at least one question before you offer your own thoughts or opinions on a topic. Try defining meeting success as the participants generating and owning the outcome rather than trying to steer participants toward what you believe the outcome should be. This means releasing your own agenda, setting aside your ideas, and being open to different ways of doing things. This will be uncomfortable for many of you but the benefits are a more engaged team that’s more committed to executing the outcome they defined.

– Mike Figliuolo at thoughtLEADERS, LLC

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These results were originally a SmartPulse poll in SmartBrief on Leadership which tracks feedback from more than 240,000 business leaders. Get smarter on leadership and sign up for the SmartBrief on Leadership e-newsletter.