Measure and Improve Equal Turn-Taking to Drive Psychological Safety and Team Performance
Photo by Wynand van Poortvliet on Unsplash
Google’s Aristotle Project studied hundreds of teams over several years. Researchers found that high-performing teams had several elements emphasizing trust, vulnerability, and inclusive communication in team dynamics. But psychological safety was dramatically more important than the others.
Psychological safety is being able to show and employ one’s self without fear of negative consequences of self-image, status, or career.
Researchers identified the number one driver of psychological safety as Equal Turn-Taking. Overall, there was equal airtime among team members–people spoke in roughly the same proportion. On some teams, everyone spoke during each task; on others, the conversation shifted among teammates throughout different tasks. But in each case, everyone had contributed roughly the same amount by the end of the day.
To help ensure everyone feels comfortable speaking up and their ideas are heard, track the time each person speaks during the meeting. Ultimately, you’re helping train your team to share airtime and feel safe contributing. Once the conversational climate of your team improves, reduce your facilitation. As with all healthy habits, make sure to sustain it! Read on for details on how to track Turn-Taking.
Track Who Speaks
Let your team know you’re looking to create a loosely held balance of airtime and want to hear from everyone, so you are trying an experiment. In this experiment, you, or a volunteer, will take notes on the amount of time each person speaks, using a timer and notes to track:
- Who speaks up most often, and for how long?
- Who doesn’t talk or contribute less?
- Does anyone consistently take the team off-topic or go from tactical to theoretical?
Once the meeting is over, compare the amount of time each person has. If this is not happening, think about why this could be the case.
- Is it simply a matter of introverts versus extroverts?
- Is it a matter of confidence?
- Is there someone who struggles to sit through the slightest pause and must jump in?
- Is there competitive vying for air space?
- Does someone consistently interrupt others or interrupt a particular team member?
- Is someone consistently repetitive? Or who over-describes?
- If there’s a lot of dead air space, does it feel safe to contribute thoughts?
- Does anyone consistently take the team off-topic or go from tactical to conceptual?
- Do you tend to listen more closely to a particular team member?
Caring yet Candid Follow-Ups
Touch base one-on-one with each team member. You may need some candid conversations.
- Steam Rollers: With those who contribute more, ask them to sit back and seek others’ thoughts. Inform them beforehand you will be seeking balance and reminding others to contribute.
- Ramblers: With those who tend to over-describe, take a moment to appreciate their knowledge and explain how you will help them know when they have shared enough so that other people can talk.
- Cautious Contributors: With those who contribute less, push to expand their comfort zones, letting them know you’d like to hear from them more, and on occasion, you’ll ask them to share their thoughts– but they can pass for the moment if they need to collect their thoughts.
Facilitation for Turn Taking
Facilitate the next conversation to support an equal exchange and measure any changes.
Round Robin: Introverts might not “take” the floor but often share when “given” the floor. Ask a question, give everyone a few minutes to consider their thoughts, and then do a round-robin, going from person to person to get their input. Give people the “right to pass” to gather their thoughts and then return to them later.
Establish an explicit talking order by sharing your screen and asking people to speak in an order everyone can see.
Use physical prompting and cueing to help bridge delays. Agree on specific signals early in your meeting to ‘move on’ or to ask clarifying questions.
Intentional Use of Cameras
- Seeing faces creates engagement; too much is distracting and could impede the ability to read cues.
- Encourage view options with speaker center stage.
- Suggest attendees select ‘hide self-view can help (we don’t watch ourselves in a face-to-face meeting!)
- While cameras are essential for high-fidelity collaboration, consider when audio-only may be a better option, such as when the occasion requires intense listening.
Pass the Baton
- If someone is dominating, stop them, validate them, summarize their point, and pass the baton with a conversational transition such as, “Good point, Grant. I hear you are in favor of this idea. Mary, you have a lot of experience with this — I’d like to hear your thoughts.”
- If someone is repetitive, let them know you’ve heard them, summarize their input, and pass the baton.
- If over-describers start going into too much detail, tell them you know how hard they work to develop solutions before transitioning to others.
Plus-One: If someone who appears to be struggling with confidence brings an idea, have everyone “plus one” the concept first — speaking to why it would work before talking to why it wouldn’t. For those who do not speak up often, reinforce your appreciation of their perspective.
Others: Use features built into online tools; features like responses and electronic whiteboards are helpful for team members to see and retain contributions,
Use a “Parking Lot” to capture (but not consider) any derailing topics that may be important but are not the focus. This helps everyone stay focused on the purpose at hand.
Leaders Talk Last: Hearing a leader’s opinion too early typically changes the dynamics quickly; others may feel unwilling to contradict or add their ideas, which could lead to feeling that their contributions don’t matter.
Benefits
For the virtual facilitator, providing open, safe opportunities to share can take more time and care. You are giving your team a chance to grow their psychological safety so they can feel comfortable sharing their opinions. For participants, attending to the content is much easier, which means a better discussion and builds a more productive, enjoyable collaboration for all.
Julee Everett
Hone your craft, speak your truth, show your thanks
Visit my YouTube Channel for a growing library of agility-related content.
