You're leading a virtual team with a dominating member. How can you ensure everyone has a voice?

To ensure everyone has a voice in a virtual team with a dominating member, set these ground rules: Establish clear communication guidelines, ensuring respectful turn-taking and use of chat tools. Rotate meeting facilitators to prevent dominance and empower team members. Distribute structured agendas beforehand to set clear discussion expectations. Invite quieter members to share their thoughts. Set time limits for speaking to equalize participation. Encourage active listening and respect for all opinions. Create a mechanism for feedback on team dynamics, possibly anonymously. Acknowledge and appreciate all contributions to foster inclusion and collaboration.

In my opinion, we must first understand that the goal of communication is to learn. we learn from each person. dominant people, I think, need to communicate and put on a show and that is not the goal in a team spirit. to be able to manage, we must share time equally to listen to each member because each opinion, each vision is important. Commitment to listening to others can fix this kind of personality

One action that certainly helps to balance the personalities and opinions of teams is to set rules: establishing speaking turns or explicitly naming team members who should contribute to a particular topic. The latter also gives individuals entitlement on topics in which they have more expertise than the dominant colleague in the team. Above all, encouraging curiosity in the team - perhaps even in the form of a challenge - is key to ensuring that people learn from each other and that every one is open to hear out the others.

From my experience, these tools are useful when they are correctly used. First, the leader needs to understand the general profile of the team. Perhaps some teams are more keen to intervene right away and using "raising hands" helps to organize the interventions. On the contrary, some teams are in general more shy. In this case, encouraging writing on the chat or requesting open-mic sessions can eventually assist on making the conversation more fluid.

Private check-ins are especially helpful when dealing with someone monopolising the discussion. You can privately remind them of the ground rules and the need to hear everyone's input without shining a spotlight on them.

Sometimes, addressing the issue privately with that member can help. They may not be acting intentionally; it could be a little bit of excitement or self-confidence. It's better to discuss the importance of teamwork with them, emphasizing that everyone’s opinions matter. Even if they believe they're always right, there could be a better idea from someone else. As a team leader, my responsibility is to ensure every voice is heard. Despite the presence of that dominant member, I’ll listen to everyone and encourage the team to consider everyone's points. My goal is to maintain an environment where everyone speaks and everyone is heard.

Al fomentar la cultura de equipo inclusivo demostramos con hechos que a las metas trazadas si bien es cierto se pueden cumplir y llegar más rápido a ellas de manera individual pero también es cierto que cuando se trabaja en equipo se llega incluso más lejos. Entre colaboradores o grupos de trabajo es importante implementar esta cultura para así crear estrategias que permitan al grupo tener un buen desarrollo ante cualquier situación que se deba enfrentar. No solo logramos el trabajo en equipo sino que también le damos voz a aquellos que por situaciones diversas prefieren guardar silencio y al implementar esta cultura le demostramos que su opinión/aporte es significativo y también cuenta.