Put it on the table
So what do you do when an important issue is on the table and nobody wants to talk about it? You usually don’t need years of business training to solve this problem. Just tell them to speak up.
“There are certain people who just don’t want to say much at meetings,” Cassel says. “Those people, you need to specifically ask them, because they will answer. Sometimes you need to take them offline, not in front of the group, and say, ‘In order to make this effective, you need to open your mouth.’ You learn each person’s management style or learning style and you try to take advantage of it and put them in the right place.”
Just as an effective meeting can energize employees to get things done, a bad meeting can leave them scrambling to figure out what to do next. You have a lot to say about which direction the meeting goes.
“You want to set the agenda and set the tone,” Cassel says. “There are times when absolutely I speak first and there are times when I put something on the table and don’t speak first. Part of that is just something you develop over time. I don’t know if I can say there is any magic to it. It really depends on the meeting.”
At this stage, it’s about establishing a framework for the meeting that allows free-flowing discussion, within the parameters of the topic at hand. Ultimately, it could come down to you to step up and make a decision, but for now, you want opinions to be voiced.
Those people who are reluctant to speak need to see your words of encouragement backed up by action.
“You have to let them give their opinion,” Cassel says. “You let everybody hear it and you discuss it. You have to hear them out. You can’t be patronizing. Hear them out and have that debate.”
In order to keep some control on the meeting, make sure you set a time limit for when you want it to wrap up. And work to ensure things aren’t being repeated over and over again.
“Have a finite amount of time that you’re going to allot to the meeting to let everybody give their inpu
t so you have all the facts on the table,” Cassel says. “When you get all those facts, let people know that it’s not necessary to constantly reiterate. One of the things that you see in meetings is one person says something and the next four people repeat it. That’s not necessary. You can just say, ‘I agree with so-and-so. That’s enough.’
“I think it’s keeping on point and making sure when people go off on a tangent, try to bring it back. Sometimes issues come up at a meeting with multiple people that are really not germane to the whole group. Table that issue, put it to the side and deal with it one on one so you don’t expend everybody’s time on it.”
Make it clear through constant reminders that you want people to bring to your attention concerns they might have about the direction being considered or the way things are being done.
“If they have a problem with me, they know they can come in my office,” Cassel says. “They know they can close the door and say anything they want. I may get upset, but generally, the next day, I’m over it and on to the next thing. People who keep a list or hold a grudge are a problem on both sides of that management style.”
