Why Meetings Fail and How to Make Them Work

By Marlene Chism

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The lack of employee engagement at meetings is frustrating, particularly when you have done everything in your power to get employees to participate. You asked for ideas, only to get an eye roll, a shoulder shrug, and crossed arms. You bought lunch, created a friendly atmosphere, asked questions, started with humor, but still, no engagement. Even with the best efforts, there are many reasons why your employees may not engage at your meetings. Here are five reasons why employee engagement fails during meetings:

Employees feel that their ideas won't be taken seriously anyway, so why bother?
Peer pressure. It's more "cool" to have an "us against them" mentality.
The questions are not framed to allow for participation. (Too broad.)
Fear of rejection.
No feedback or recognition when suggestions are given.

Do any of these reasons resonate with you? One of the biggest human needs besides safety is status, particularly in the workplace. So, you need to make sure that employees feel safe when participating, and you need to build in some rewards so that they see sharing ideas as a way to increase their status. With that in mind, some of these problems listed can be solved with good facilitation skills and a little planning. Here are seven ways to improve employee engagement during meetings.

1. Frame the Question

Instead of asking, "Do you have any ideas for improvement?" state the specific problem and ask employees to help problem-solve. It's easier to come up with suggestions if the question is more narrowly framed. For example, "Our problem is each week we have a list of tasks that do not get done because these tasks are not necessarily a priority, but then we get behind the next week because we are behind. What are some possible solutions?"

Make sure you set the rules for this type of problem-solving so that all ideas are considered and not discounted.

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