Do your team meetings feel routine, with few questions and minimal discussion?
Do most of your team members limit feedback or suggestions to avoid risk?
Are you sensing a lack of interest in experimentation or sharing of novel ideas?
These symptoms of low team engagement can feel like harmony, which is why they may be easily missed.
Most leaders now expect more engagement from their teams as they lead through increasing complexity and uncertainty. On one hand, there is urgency to effectively meet these challenges; but on the other, it takes time to build the trust that is foundational for deeper team engagement.
The key to engagement progress is consistency – repeated positive experiences that prove speaking up leads to good outcomes, not negative consequences.
These steps help leaders act more consistently to build trust and engagement:
Lead with vulnerability:
- Share your own mistakes and what you’ve learned – it raises your authenticity
- Say “I don’t know” and invite the team to problem-solve with you
- Acknowledge when you change your mind based on others’ input
Respond constructively:
- Thank people for speaking up, before you respond to their viewpoint
- Ask curious questions to better understand, rather than immediately defending
- Focus on solving problems, not assigning blame
- Watch your tone and facial expressions – they can signal more than your words
Promote participation:
- Avoid report-outs in team meetings; instead, ask each team member to share a couple of wins and challenges, before inviting team suggestions on the challenges
- Solicit ideas for products or processes that could be improved
- Invite feedback on important decisions: “What are we missing?” or “Who sees this differently?”
- End meetings by asking “What didn’t we talk about that we should have?”
Reward courage:
- When mistakes happen, focus team conversations on learning rather than accountability
- When someone raises a concern, show them it matters by taking visible action – even if you can’t fix it immediately
- Create space for experiments where failure teaches rather than punishes
Leaders succeed when their people do.
How might these actions boost your team’s engagement?