Can you think of a time when you participated in a new group, team, or meeting space and someone invites others to step forward and take on a level of responsibility / a specific role?

A colleague shared this common challenge: 

Within their teams, they and a few select others continuously step into the leadership roles (yes, even after waiting for others to speak up). They invite others to participate, to share power, to take the lead role or responsibility, but still–no one raises their hand.

This leads to:

❌ The same people continuously stepping into leadership roles 

❌ The same people continuously take on added responsibility  

❌ Others in the spaces keep themselves on the sidelines 

❌ Feelings of frustration for those in the leadership roles actively want to share power

Here’s what’s beautiful

My colleague invited conversation on their challenge with me and several others. And in this moment, what they are doing is opening their own mind to other possibilities. Other ways of working. You may know this as having a growth mindset.

They are inviting others to:

• ask questions they were not asking themselves
• share common stories and resolutions to those 
• be a thought partner for deeper thinking on the issue

🧠 As a prompt for those not participating, I offered one of my favorite questions to my colleague:

What’s keeping you from [stepping into a leadership role / taking on more responsibility?] What’s keeping you on the sidelines?

🎁 The impact? 

Asking these questions means we get to hear from those who are not participating in their own words what might be causing their actions / inactions. 

⚙️⚙️ Curious about the TACTICS?

Listening tours that incorporate carefully crafted and emergent questions with those who are not participating and are framed as Rounds, per Sociocratic methods can elicit information not previously shared or not previously heard.

Creating a safety container with care and intention at the top of those discussions is crucial and also encourages self agency for all participants – work I’m particularly passionate about. And when this is missing, the listening tour isn’t as useful. People must feel safe and able to contribute their thoughts without fear of retribution.

🙌🏼 BONUS

Benefits for those of us asking the questions or those who have consistently been stepping into leadership roles surface when we conduct listening tours, and:

🗣️ TWO types of feedback may be shared

1️⃣ potential to learn how we may have been impacting the other person’s psychological safety and therefore feelings of ability to lean into participation 

2️⃣ this moment can help us uncover and name our own assumptions which can lead to more insights

————

I infuse methods into my work with organizations that enhance inclusion and collaboration while also saving time. These methods stem from Sociocracy: a governance model.

Do you have a challenging issue with employee participation? I’d love to be your thought partner. Use our contact page to start the conversation.

Thanks for reading!