What to do when nobody talks

Safety silence follows a question with a wrong answer attached, or any question about a manager who is in the room, which is also why a complaint rarely surfaces first in a session rather than through a formal channel. Clarity silence follows a question that is too large to answer. Fatigue silence is the fourth hour of anything.

You can usually tell by the chat. Safety silence is total. Clarity silence has one person asking what you mean. Fatigue silence has short answers and fast agreement.

Remove attribution before you ask again. An anonymous poll, a shared document with no names, or a written answer you read aloud without saying who wrote it.

Never solve safety silence by calling on somebody. Cold calling into an unsafe room is the fastest way to guarantee the rest of the session is performance.

Make the question smaller and more concrete. "Any thoughts on the new process" gets nothing. "What is one step in the new process that will slow you down" gets answers, because it asks for something the person already knows.

Give a sixty second write before the ask. Silence that follows writing is rare.

Ending early. If the room is done, the remaining content will not land, and pushing through teaches people that your sessions run past their usefulness.

Cut to the close, get the decisions and owners on screen, and give the time back. You will get a better room next time for having done it.

Want this applied to your own session?

Book twenty minutes and bring the agenda you are stuck on.