I have written multiple times about collaboration and how valuable it is, and a recent piece in the Harvard Business Review – “Bringing out the best in your team” by Brian Bonner and Alexander Bolinger – reminded me of one critical ingredient. As all of us have experienced repeatedly, from case studies in business school to conference calls to team meetings, usually a small subset of the group drives the call or meeting. This phenomenon leads to two problems:

1. The people dominating the meeting are not necessarily the ones with the most relevant knowledge.
2. Everyone at the meeting should have something valuable to add, otherwise they should not be at the meeting, so letting a few monopolize restricts the knowledge shared.

Effectively, outgoing people get the most air time and visibility even if they are not the most expert on the topic or problem. Continue reading “Bringing out the best in your team” →