As is the case with traditional meetings held in the office, certain personality types may get overshadowed during virtual meetings, while others may dominate the floor. Finding a way to balance the tendencies of different personalities enables remote managers and companies to benefit from the whole group’s perspective—rather than only hearing those who speak the loudest and most often.
Here are some tips for drawing out the best of your staff during your remote team meetings.
Make It Easier for Introverts to Chime In
Introverts on your team may get overlooked, and managers may assume they have fewer contributions to make if they have a difficult time getting a word in edgewise among the extroverts and ambiverts (who have characteristics of both introverts and extroverts). Virtual managers can set the stage for success with some advance planning. The following strategies can help ensure that introverts have a chance to participate as well.
Give a Heads Up
Let everyone know in advance what the topic of the meeting will be, and ask people to prepare a few comments to share. This helps level the playing field since introverts often prefer to have time to think through their comments rather than being asked to present their ideas on the fly.
Assign Equal Time
In conjunction with requesting prepared comments, set a schedule for the virtual meeting to give every remote team member the same amount of time to present their insights to the group. This is a more equitable approach than leaving it to the most vocal person to decide who gets the most air time and when they get to talk—a default approach that favors extroverts.
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Use a “Talking Stick” Approach
This is a communication tactic that can help ensure there are no interruptions. In an in-person setting, a talking stick is a designated object that gets passed around the room from speaker to speaker and indicates that only that person with the “stick” can talk at that time. Once the speaker has finished, they pass the stick to the next person, who then gets the floor without interruption, and so on.
In a remote setting, you can mimic the same concept by designating a conferencing tool for the stick—for example, by using the Raise Hand feature in Zoom—and having the manager call on people in the order their hands were raised. You can also use physical objects, like having each person bring a pencil or pen to the remote meeting. When the manager calls on that person, they hold up their “stick” to indicate that it’s their turn to talk.
Encourage Extroverts to Share the Floor
In addition to implementing strategies that encourage introverts to get their voices heard, virtual managers can also make sure that their more vocal participants don’t steal the spotlight from other personality types.
Make Workplace Personalities Transparent
Have a full-team discussion about people’s preferred working styles, and ask individuals to share how they best like to engage in virtual meetings. Explain that it’s important for all team members to have an equal chance to express their thoughts, and ask each person to share what works best to help make this happen. For example, if one person shares that they feel uncomfortable speaking up on the calls, ask if one of the techniques in the section above—such as the talking stick technique or preparing comments in advance—could help.
Have One-on-Ones to Address Trouble Spots
While the assertiveness of extroverts can be a boon to any employer, it can hurt organizations to only hear from a select few. If a team member continuously dominates discussions and makes it challenging for others to get a word in, connect with them privately to discuss the issue. Encourage them to leverage their strengths with verbal communication to help draw out more reticent colleagues.
Enlist Ambiverts to Help Bridge the Gap
Since ambiverts are the middle ground between the introvert and extrovert personality types, remote managers can use their talents to help colleagues connect with each other. If your team has a noticeable dichotomy between introverts and extroverts, ask an ambivert in the group to help each type understand how the other might feel in specific meeting situations. For example, an ambivert might role-play how introverts can step forward, and extroverts can step back to ensure a more equitable distribution of talking time.
Let Their Personalities Shine
While some personalities may naturally stand out more during remote meetings, it’s important for managers to learn how to engage and harness all personality types on the team to maximize collaboration, innovation, and creativity. By recognizing and tapping into the value and strengths inherent in each type, employers can make the most of every virtual meeting and lead successful remote teams.
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