Are Your Team Meetings Truly Engaging Everyone?
Welcome to another Toolkit Tuesday! Every week, our goal is to give you a practical leadership tool to put in your toolkit.
So There I Was…
Years ago, when I worked in another job, I was part of a strong, high-performing team. We had a great leader, a sharp pioneer who genuinely cared about the people on the team and wanted everyone to excel.
When we held brainstorming meetings, the leader would start by saying, “I want to hear everyone’s ideas.” But before asking for input, they’d share their own thoughts first. The ideas were usually great, and most of the time we built our plans around them.
The problem was what happened next. The nurturers tended to agree right away. The creatives followed their lead. When the guardians did speak up, they often faced pushback or quick questions that made them second-guess. By the time we finished, the room had technically “collaborated,” but only a few voices were really heard.
Later, when I learned the 5 Voices Rules of Engagement, it all clicked. If we had started with the nurturers, then moved through the creatives, guardians, connectors, and finally the pioneers, those meetings would have looked very different. Everyone would’ve had space to contribute, and the ideas would’ve been stronger because of it.
The Challenge
Most teams want collaboration but don’t realize their meeting flow works against it. The loudest voices tend to take over while quieter ones sit back. Over time, this creates compliance instead of engagement.
If you want your team to think, create, and own outcomes together, you have to be intentional about how everyone’s voice enters the conversation.
The Tool: 5 Voices Rules of Engagement
The Rules of Engagement outline the order and approach that help every team member contribute at their best. The idea is simple: start with the quietest voices and finish with the loudest.
Follow this order in your meetings:
Nurturers – bring empathy and care when given space to speak without interruption
Creatives – offer innovation and fresh ideas that need room to develop
Guardians – add structure, logic, and critical thinking
Connectors – bring energy, enthusiasm, and relational insight
Pioneers – provide strategic clarity and direction
This simple shift changes the tone of every meeting. When people feel safe to share, they bring their best thinking forward.
Why This Matters Now
Healthy team dynamics don’t happen by accident. Without structure, even well-intentioned leaders can unintentionally silence valuable perspectives.
When you use the Rules of Engagement, trust grows. People start speaking up. Conversations get richer. Decisions become more balanced and strategic.
Some of our clients initially think this sounds like a feel-good exercise, like it’s just about making sure everyone feels heard. But here’s the reality. As a leader, your job is to fight for the highest possible good of those you lead. That means helping quieter voices grow in confidence and challenge, and helping louder voices grow in emotional intelligence to listen first.
This isn’t about creating a soft culture. It’s about building a team that’s intentional about bringing out the best in each other so the whole group performs at its highest level.
The Result
Teams that follow the Rules of Engagement not only engage more voices, they make better decisions. Meetings become places where ideas build on each other instead of competing for airtime.
The quieter members of your team feel heard. The louder ones learn to listen. And as trust deepens, performance follows.
Take Action
In your next team meeting, intentionally follow the Rules of Engagement. Start with the nurturers and finish with the pioneers. See what changes when every voice is heard.
If you want to learn how to bring this tool into your team culture, schedule a strategy call with us. We’ll show you how to build stronger collaboration and higher trust with the 5 Voices framework.
Closing the Loop
One of our clients has built this rhythm into every team meeting. They follow the Rules of Engagement exactly, starting with the nurturers and finishing with the pioneers. It took discipline at first, but now it’s second nature.
Their meetings run smoother, ideas are stronger, and people actually enjoy showing up. Because when every voice is heard, the team doesn’t just talk about collaboration, they live it.
