Use Team Building Sessions Appropriately – And Know Who’s Dominating The Conversation

Team building sessions are used to develop cohesion and set norms. These sessions are a temporary boost and do not solve the problem of inequity in the amount of time that people are provided to be heard. People need their thoughts and input shared to be heard. The value of a team is only achieved when all input and perspectives can be given.

A very common scenario plays out in most professional teams where a very small number of people on the team dominate the conversation and effectively do all of the talking. Managers who decide that this small percentage of highly vocal employees are their stars will start to rely on their opinions more and more – a situation called “domination by a few”. This leads to overvaluing the vocal team members and undervaluing the others.

The problem that is created is one of an uneven level of participation. The overlooked and underappreciated members of this team can become flight risks as they try to find a company, team and company culture that will be more conducive to being heard. After all, we all have a need to feel more engaged and valued in our careers. The result is a social problem that directly correlates to productivity but not with retention.

Behavioral solutions including more self-awareness, encouraging others to talk, and creating boundaries and controls on live discussions can help, but know that the issues are usually compounded when dealing with virtual meetings. In virtual situations, the attendees who are not participating will resort to multitasking which impedes building better job satisfaction, strength, trust, and cohesion on the team.