How do I get others to participate more actively in meetings?

While it’s every member’s responsibility to contribute, you can do a number of things to encourage others to be more involved. The "basics" include:

• asking questions,

• listening carefully,

• summarizing,

• seeking divergent viewpoints, and

• facilitating the recording of ideas.

It can also be very effective to openly ask for input from "low contributors" and to always communicate your understanding of the merit of others’ ideas. Also – be careful not to judge other people’s ideas prematurely, and try to build on the ideas of others whenever you can. Building on ideas improves the quality of the team’s overall efforts, and it shows people you value their contributions.

In addition to maintaining an "attitude of inquiry" by suspending judgment and demonstrating the value in what others say by acknowledging their good ideas and building on them, the way you handle conflict can also make a difference. The fastest way to shut down participation is by letting conflict get out of hand. Therefore, to keep participation strong, make it a rule to see to it that everyone always engages only in "good conflict" – the kind of managed, respectful conflict that is part of the process of innovation and creative problem solving and the basis for building consensus.