Listening skills are essential to a supervisor conducting a meeting. Often, much of what is said in a meeting is not heard because participants are more eager to express their own points rather than in listening. Workers may be encouraged to jot down ideas while the other person is talking rather than interrupting. It can be an effective practice to record ideas coming out of a meeting. Clearly, the supervisor does not have to agree with all the ideas, but if they are documented he can follow through and decide whether the ideas will be implemented now, delayed, or tabled indefinitely.
Workers are more likely to participate if they feel their ideas are given serious consideration.
Individuals in a power position are more likely to be successful in introducing a topic of conversation. An idea may be well-received when brought up by a highly respected group member, although it was ignored a few minutes earlier when brought up by someone in a less dominant position. In one study, for instance, women only succeed in 36 percent of their attempts to establish a topic of conversation while men did so 96 percent of the time. Often, meetings degenerate into a point and counterpoint argument between participants. Often nothing gets resolved.