Leaders Forum, presented by NALP and powered by Aspire, is a member-exclusive event that will be held on Feb. 4-7, 2026, in Santa Barbara, California. It is an opportunity for CEOs and top executives to network and discover new ways to drive productivity and motivate their teams.
Gabe Adams, a behavioral scientist with UVA Darden School of Business, will lead a two-part session on managing employee voice and team dynamics during Leaders Forum on Feb. 5, 2026.
During the first part of the session, Adams will explore how leaders can manage employee voice during meetings. Creating psychological safety for your team is the first step to ensuring team members will speak up.
“Without it, people hold back from voicing their ideas, but with it, creativity and problem-solving and innovation can potentially skyrocket,” Adams says. “When people don’t speak up, important ideas get lost in the shuffle and leaders don’t hear critical feedback.”
Adams notes that great meetings don’t just happen. They are designed.
“The biggest pitfall is what psychologists call the ‘plunging-in bias,’” Adams says. “People rush straight into discussion without setting a plan. Effective meetings have a clear agenda, clear roles, and a clear finish line. That structure creates focus and makes sure everyone’s time is well spent.”
She says that with structure and clear roles in your meetings, everyone is able to do their part and pull their weight in the conversation. For the more introverted team members, consider how to access their input before the meeting or circle back afterwards.
“Give them time and options by circulating the agenda ahead of time, or asking for written input from group members rather than verbal feedback during the meeting so that people don’t drown one another out,” Adams says.
In the second part of Adams’s session, she will talk about some of the productive and unproductive ways to approach conflict when it arises, as well as how to motivate and inspire your team.
“Start with listening, and intersperse that with action,” Adams says. “Don’t tolerate people who treat others poorly. End with listening.”
Adams notes that too often leaders lean too heavily on extrinsic incentives like compensation or bonuses when it comes to motivation.
“What really sustains motivation are intrinsic drivers like purpose, growth, autonomy, or belonging,” she says. “Leaders get stuck when they assume money alone will unlock performance and/or when they neglect these intrinsic drivers, when in reality people want to feel that their work matters and that they matter.”
Adams recommends leaders ask their employees from a place of genuine curiosity what drives them.
“They can observe based on past behavior, but they shouldn’t make assumptions,” she says.
Adams stresses that company culture exists in the moment-to-moment interactions between employees. It all comes down to intentionality and consistent small actions.
“One big mistake a lot of leaders make is thinking that there is a big solution to culture,” Adams says. “But since culture exists in those micro-moments, problems have to be solved in that way, too. That means starting with people’s behavior and looking inward at behavior change.”
Register today for Leaders Forum and secure Tier 2 pricing before Dec. 3.
