Have you heard of the ‘babble effect’? Biologically, babbling is a stage in child development we all go through prior to learning to talk, whereby we experiment with uttering articulate sounds prior to being able to speak recognizable words.
The ‘babble effect’ is something leadership speaker Adam Grant refers to when describing the phenomena that the loudest most vocal people in the room tend to be perceived as the leaders, even though they are not necessarily the ones with the greatest insight or capacity to make the best decisions. As Grant says “People who do more talking in groups, no matter what they are saying, are more likely to be considered leaders by group members”. It reminds me of my son’s sports games when he was younger. The more dominant, vocal and forthright players interject themselves naturally, take charge of the ball, and the quieter, more reserved ones diligently pass the ball to the ‘leaders’ to shoot the goals without ever giving themselves or others much of a go.
The same phenomena can (and more often than not does) happen in meetings in the workplace. The more reserved ones don;t get much chance to give their thoughts and opinions, or they feel railroaded by the more dominant talkers. It is certainly problematic when the more confident attendees tend to take control of the meeting, the discussions and decision making, while the quiet ones don’t get much of a say.
It’s problematic because the quieter, less domineering people could actually have some of the best ideas and insights, they are just not able to adequately communicate them.
Not only are the most vocal people in the room not necessarily the best leaders, in many cases they can actually be worse at leadership because they fail to include everyone else in the room in the discussion, they fail to show interest in other viewpoints. They can have a tendency to lack the insight or the curiosity required to be truly innovative and collaborative.
Quiet does not always equate with uninterested, disengaged, or lacking in ideas. And equally, loud does not equate with being the most knowledgeable and capable of making the final decisions.
A good leader is a facilitative one, not a domineering one. Of course, there are times when a leader needs to step up and make a decision without getting everyone’s opinion first. But there are many times a good leader needs to take a step back, and take a more facilitative approach.
They also need to be aware of the babble effect and make sure they pave the way to combat the implications of it. So how can a leader facilitate a meeting to quieten down the loud ones, and encourage the quieter ones to speak up? Here are a few great strategies to ensure the babble effect is not negatively affecting your meetings and team collaborations;
1. Create a very clear agenda
Having a clear agenda, especially for meetings when you want equal collaboration is really important. It signals that the meeting is not a free-for-all and that it will be closely facilitated. If possible, you can also assign owners for topics, to ensure the discussion is evenly distributed and everyone has a talking point and an opportunity to hold space.
2. Set time limits
Having time limits keeps things concise. Make sure topics have a set time so you can easily manage the time and wrap things up if the babbling takes effect. By covering more topics in less time, it allows you to come back and explore specific topics in greater detail, covering more ground and coming up with action points to allow further progress on topics without getting stuck on having to decide a way forward there and then for each topic.
3. Give everyone a chance to talk
Ask people specifically for their opinion. A lot of people find it hard to navigate an open playing field where they have to wait to find an opening to talk and share their ideas (and often get talked over by some of the louder individuals). By taking a facilitative approach and giving everyone a chance to talk in their own time helps to ensure everyone’s ideas and concerns are voiced. This is also extremely validating to the quieter people in the room, who may otherwise feel unheard and frustrated they didn’t get to share their ideas.
4. Understand that everyone is different
Some people are naturally extraverted, others naturally introverted. Some people don’t want to speak unless they feel they have a really valid idea worth sharing, others talk first, think later.
There is much we can do to stifle the babble effect in our workplaces, and plenty of other strategies. What are some of the strategies you use? Could your leadership team benefit from one of my workshops? Please get in touch today, I’d love to help.