W.A.I.T.

Have you ever caught yourself talking in a meeting and thought, “I've got something to say about everything.” Maybe you have a colleague that has to chime in on. every. single. thing. 

One strategy for creating awareness about the amount of space you are taking up in meetings is adding W.A.I.T* to our group agreements or norms.   

This agreement asks people to consider their reasons for speaking, in order to encourage people to share more intentionally and to create and reinforce other voices in the conversation.

Even if you can’t formalize this as a group agreement right away, try practicing it on your own. Is there another way you can show agreement or make a point? Do you need to be heard on every call? Who else can you acknowledge or nudge on the call? 

You might be surprised by how much more intentional you can be. By doing this, your comments become more rich and you’ll create space for others to speak up. 

Let us know how it goes! 

*W.A.I.T is adapted from Emergent Strategy by adrienne maree brown. brown invites readers to feel, map, assess, and learn from the swirling patterns around us in order to better understand and influence them as they happen.