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🎒 Microlesson

🪞 Reflect

In virtual meetings, how long do you typically wait for a response before speaking again?

💡 Concept

One tiny action that can significantly improve the quality of virtual meetings: pausing. 

When you’re facilitating discussions or asking questions, allow for a brief pause after each query before restating the question or providing additional information. 

This quiet moment gives participants valuable time to process information and formulate thoughtful responses.

Resist the urge to fill the silence immediately. Although it may initially feel uncomfortable, with practice, incorporating pauses into your meetings will become more natural.

If you want thoughtful and insightful contributions from meeting participants, you must provide them with the time and space to think. By embracing pauses, you create an environment where individuals feel empowered to engage fully and contribute meaningfully to the conversation.

🎬 Take Action

• Implement a Pause Protocol: Set a personal guideline to wait at least 5–10 seconds after asking a question before speaking again during virtual meetings.

• Practice Mindful Listening: Focus on actively listening to participants' responses without immediately formulating your own thoughts. Use pauses to fully digest what they say.

• Use Visual Cues: If you’re leading a video meeting, utilize visual cues such as nodding or making eye contact to acknowledge participants' contributions and signal that you're allowing time for them to speak.

• Experiment with Silence: Challenge yourself to extend the length of pauses gradually during meetings to become more comfortable with silence and allow for deeper reflection from participants.

• Encourage Participation: Encourage quieter participants to share their thoughts by explicitly stating that you value everyone's input and by providing additional time for responses.

• Lead by Example: Demonstrate the importance of pausing by incorporating deliberate pauses into your own speaking patterns during meetings, setting a precedent for others to follow.

🧠 Keep Learning

Learn more about how to lead effective virtual meetings in Leadplaceless. 

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