Methods to increase employee engagment in international problem solving meetings

In the current international business environment employees are spending large amounts of their time in meetings. More than ever these meetings take place remotely and often have the problem that individuals in the meeting do not share information or opinions. Employees often stay in muted in meetings and allow one or two participants to drive the conversation. This habit is especially troublesome for problem solving meetings. Problem solving meetings invite individuals from different disciplines to share and brainstorm possible causes for issues related to poor company outcomes. Active and open contribution from all members is required to achieve the group goals. This study aims to find methods that will increase contribution amongst meeting participants in regular meetings as well as problem solving meetings. The study tested sixteen topics for their influence on contribution in meetings. This was done in a survey, that was distributed within a multination engineering corporation, and on LinkedIn. There was a total of 68 responses. These responses were then separated by above average and below average participation in problem solving meetings. Hypothesis testing was done on the total group and separately on the problem-solving group. Employee participation in decision making and psychological safety were found to correlate highly with Contribution in meetings for both groups. Psychological safety was found to be of even greater importance to problem solving group. This study demonstrates that to increase contribution in meetings, leaders should provide a psychologically safe climate where employees share in the decision making. Furthermore, a psychologically safe environment is critical in problem solving meetings where members of different disciplines with low familiarity take part