Good evening Devansh,

Do you enjoy team meetings?!

Whatever industry you are in, one thing is sure you cannot avoid team meetings in your work. Team meetings are the playground where discussions happen, decisions are made, and strategies are discussed; for many people, team meetings are not something they can actively participate in.

But they can be especially taxing for people who crave a quieter setting for brainstorming or thinking through issues, or who struggle to have their voices heard in a room full of loud-talkers.

If you are one of those people, then what can you do to become an active participant in the team meetings? Let’s be honest, not speaking up and contributing to discussions is going to leave a bad impression on you and nobody wants that.

So, you should definitely read today’s article, if want to well-represent your ideas in team meetings. Susan Colin, a renowned corporate trainer and a published author has shared her thoughts on how introverts can unlock their powers in team meetings.

Besides other things, she also hits upon the misgivings and apprehensions introverts have while thinking about talking in meetings. Look at this and tell me if you are not able to relate to this.

Many introverts aren’t comfortable thinking on their feet, and really want to process their thoughts before articulating them. Then, let go of the idea that your thoughts have to be well-formulated in order to be articulated. Notice how half-baked people’s ideas usually are when they advance them, and that no one minds. Half-baked ideas often have a lot of value.

Colins, in this article, also takes us through how you can deal with your fears in a structured manner and I relate to this. This is what you are doing with us, where you are starting with controlled environments (mentors GDs etc) so that you can be ready for high-stakes situations.

If you have something that you’re afraid of or uncomfortable with, you should expose yourself to it in small, manageable doses to extinguish the fear and gain comfort over time. There’s no way around a fear except through it. But the answer is not to begin by putting yourself in very high-stakes situations and forcing yourself to perform.

Towards the end, Colins has a bit of specialist advice for team leaders on how to get the best out of introverts during team meetings. As a team leader, it’s your responsibility to get the best out of different people in your team and it’s very common to have introverts in your team.

Follow/connect me on LinkedIn and let me know your views on this.

Till next week!

Best,
Shubham Gupta
Co-founder, BBR