Your team is full of introverted members. How can you help them contribute to group discussions effectively?

Facilitation practices like brainwriting, 1-2-4-ALL, or dot voting can help gather their perspectives as the group builds psychological safety and learns how to create a good meeting flow.

As a facilitator, it is key to take care of different personality types and be aware of ones own biases. The extrovert/introvert is a classic. If you are a typical extrovert person, you need to train other speeds and other types of processes that does not necessarily fit you. One principle that works fantastic here is the Alone/Together way of working.

I would start with an Energizer called untangle the tangled hands. This will allow everyone to speak and share how ideas to untangle. While doing that initiate a group activities rather pair them to brain storm the topic to as an ice breaker and by doing so everyone is assured of have speak a word. Therefore make the pair have the Main speaker and there co however everyone will be in support of the other.

I use physical exercises in trios and pairs to give more opportunity for air time and intimacy. This builds confidence. I also invite voices who have been quiet to speak out if they are willing. It’s an invitation not putting them in the spotlight to call them out. Working with all kinds of intelligence not only verbal is important to draw out introspection in different ways.

Desde mi punto de vista ser introvertido no es ser autista. Los introvertidos se pueden comunicar igual de bien que otros e incluso seguro que piensan mejor. Es tan sencillo como que los espacios de las reuniones sean sitios formales y que los debates estén bien moderados por el conductor de las mismas. Quizás en un bar ser muy extrovertido es una ventaja, en una empresa no lo debería ser.

Work with each person where they are, find person-centred approaches to how each person prefers to give and receive information and then work out ways of supporting each person to contribute i.e. having information at a set period before meetings aids processing time. Tools to allow for participation in meetings like Mentimetre which allows for input to remain anonymous but live can give real-time input alongside other forms of communication. We also need to break down the binary concept of introversion and extroversion as its not a fixed 'thing' there maybe time when individuals shine so working out this safely and in good time allows for trying new ways, outside of comfort zones or expected 'ways' of being and doing

Siempre animo a crear una alianza de trabajo que facilite la participación de los diferentes estilos comunicativos y relacional es. La investigación psicológica con equipos ha puesto de manifiesto que una de las claves pasa por generar espacios de seguridad psicológica. Esto es responsabilidad de quien lidera y un primer paso es mostrar una actitud con el propio ejemplo que muestre su propia vulnerabilidad. Hablar de lo que resulta difícil estimula en otros a hacer lo mismo. Así se facilita un modelo de conducta que afronta la inseguridad propia mediante la exposición personal y que válida y naturaliza la inseguridad personal de otros.

I purposefully plan workshops with individual activities and group discussions, so that I know every voice is included and shared. Normally, the individual part is written, so I can read everything during or after the session even when participants don't say it aloud or contribute to the group part. Sometimes I call out comments not expressed in group discussions, to trigger conversations and open perspectives. But I avoid asking the person who wrote it to come up since I assume that if they have not spoken, they don't want to or don't feel comfortable doing it.

Write them down. Everyone has ideas. Introverts prefer to consider, analyze, weigh and perhaps tweak them before speaking out, and yet are often overwhelmed by the extroverts in the process. And yet everyone will write them down. Facilitators must provide the process to enable all participants to engage equally. Writing does that. So start with it.

I reach out for these Ed Tech tools like Padlet, Google Workspace, Miro, Mentimeter. Everybody - introverts or extroverts - get to participate freely.

By implementing silence in meetings, you can improve focus, reduce stress, and enhance the quality of the inputs provided. This can be particularly beneficial for introverts, who often need time to think before they contribute.

Know your subject matter, know your participants and know the meeting's goal. Call on specific participants, likening the subject at hand, to a former experience of theirs and ask "Should we handle it the same way?" or "Tell us about what you did in that case and whether you thought it was effective?" This puts the new subject matter in a frame of reference familiar to the participant and gives them the opportunity to speak on something they have already thoroughly explored while forwarding the instant agenda.

I have experience facilitating offender groups within the Probation &prison service where I worked for approximately 15 years before retirement in 2013