Someone said to me that he had a great person working for him. The only issue? She never spoke up. He knew that she could contribute to the conversation, but for whatever reason, she wasn’t comfortable joining, particularly if there were senior people in the room.

My suggestion to him? Invite her into the conversation. Say “Judy, I know you’ve been doing some work in this space. What’s your view on what we’ve been discussing?”

Sometimes, a person who’s hanging on the sidelines really wants to join in but doesn’t know how. I used to tell my team..” I don’t expect you to always be right, but I do expect you to have a point of view.”

So next time you see the person on the sideline, invite them into the game.