The Untapped Advantage In Your Team Meetings

There’s a moment I’ll never forget from a team coaching session a couple of years ago.

The extroverted team lead spoke first (as was usual for their meetings). Then a quieter team member added a thoughtful insight that shifted the entire conversation. When we debriefed later, someone said:

“I didn’t realize we had so much untapped wisdom sitting in the room.”

And there it was - the insight so many teams miss.

We often talk about personality differences as challenges to work through. But what if they were your greatest competitive advantage?

Here’s what I’ve seen time and again:

• Teams who listen differently make better decisions
• Leaders who speak last hear more diverse, innovative input
• Cultures that respect both loud talkers and deep thinkers create psychological safety - and performance

But in hybrid teams, those differences can get blurry or even buried.

The fast-moving talkers dominate the Zoom.

The quieter voices go missing in Slack threads.

The tension builds - often silently - and performance quietly stalls.

🪷 So here’s a gentle reframe to sit with this week:

Your team doesn’t have a personality “problem”. You have a personality treasure chest.

What would it look like to unlock it?

🌱 Reflection + Self-Coaching

If this resonates, here are a few reflection prompts to explore:

For You (as a leader or teammate):

• When do I feel most energized in a team setting, and when do I shut down?
• How might my personality style shape the way I communicate and collaborate?
• Whose voice in the team might be quietly holding a golden insight?

For Your Team (in your next meeting):

• Who tends to speak first? Who tends to speak last, or not at all?
• What norms do we have that unintentionally favor one style over another?
• How might we create space for different voices and ways of thinking?

P.S. If this sparked something for you - and you’d love to explore what better team communication might look like with a coach in your corner - my Momentum Builder is open for this summer. (You’ll hear more soon).

Wishing you a wonderful and restful weekend.

Until next time and with care, Kris 🌸

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