On leadership offsites we talk about the importance of hearing all the voices in the room - of the benefit of those who normally leap in remembering to sit on our hands and seek the opinions of those less likely to be the loudest voice.
With a facilitator to remind and hold both the debate-driven voices and the quiet reflectors to account, this is easier to do. I believe that it is often the first behaviour to slip back at the business.
I attended a funeral today for one of life's periphery dwellers. A quiet man, more likely to sit back, observe and listen to chat than dive in to contribute. But a full chapel showed how he was loved and appreciated and his friend and neighbour spoke beautifully about how important it is to any group or team to appreciate all of our composite parts. He asked us to consider when you are making a cake. All ingredients are added and mixed thoroughly. There's often some mixture around the edge but that's where the good stuff is! We draw it in and add it to the mixture.
It made me - as most things do - consider teams and how often we can leave out our best ingredients, particularly in decision making and discussions.
A good time to remember the value in your whole team.
