Hassan jammed a pencil eraser into his palm over and over to deal with his frustration.
How to Raise Sensitive Issues During a Virtual Meeting
You can pretty much measure the health of a team, relationship, or even an entire organization by measuring the average lag time between identifying and discussing problems — especially a virtual team. The longer issues go unaddressed, the higher the price you pay in trust, engagement, decision-making, productivity, quality, safety, diversity — you name it. In typical organizations, 72% fail to speak up when a peer doesn’t pull their weight and 57% let peers slide when they skirt important workplace processes. To shrink the lag time between the emergence and addressing of concerns in virtual teams you need to create safety. When people feel safe, they open up. When they don’t, they shut down. People only feel safe enough to venture into dicey dialogue when those around them generate sufficient positive evidence of their intentions and respect. To create better candor in virtual meetings try tactics like demonstrating trustworthiness, asking for permission to raise sensitive issues, and confirming facts as you go.