Forbes: 22 May 2022

Like it or not, most business is conducted during some sort of meeting—virtual or live, small or large—and meetings aren’t always inclusive spaces. In fact, they can sometimes be downright exclusive, and that exclusivity can unfortunately not just influence decisions and outcomes but also negatively impact morale and team cohesion. Just like high school, meetings can be impacted by a hierarchy of sorts. At the top are those who clearly feel included because they tend to be more heard, valued and influential while those at the bottom tend to have less impact and oftentimes feel less included in the discussion or decision process.

A range of factors might impact who feels included and who doesn’t. These factors could include overt, front of mind DEI (diversity, equity and inclusion) elements like race, cultural background and gender, but other qualities like age, tenure, academic background, salary grade and personality/extroversion level can also impact whether someone feels included and valued. The good news is that if you’re intentional, there are clear strategies that leaders or any meeting participant can use to make meetings more inclusive.

Creative Introductions

For those team members who don’t feel like they’re part of the “cool kids’ table” in the meeting, it can be more difficult to build relationships. Oftentimes, there is pre-meeting banter that they’re simply not part of which can painfully highlight the fact that the space doesn’t feel inclusive. One small way to help everyone build stronger relationships is by incorporating tiny relationship building elements into standard agenda items, like introductions. Instead of asking each person to just share their name and title, ask them to also share an interesting fact that might reveal unexpected areas of commonality or connection. Consider prompt questions like these: