When should great leaders hold back?

September 29, 2011

My mother was notorious for never preparing enough food, especially for parties. To ensure there was enough for guests, my siblings and I used to remind each other “family hold back”. It’s an approach leaders might also want to consider – holding back their opinions to encourage good team discussions.

Team performance is heavily influenced by the ability of the team to communicate openly, honestly, respectfully and robustly. Research has shown that the most critical factor for good team communication is a leader who models good listening skills and demonstrates openness to diverse ideas.

One sure fire way to limit individual contribution is a leader who dominates team discussions. In their defence, leaders often think it’s helpful if they start a discussion by explaining the issue and offering an opinion while some leaders fill the airwaves because it comes with the territory. Those in positions of power are naturally inclined to express their point of view and leaders who perceive that they have more power tend to talk more than leaders who perceive themselves as having less power and influence. Interestingly, leader power has a negative effect on team results and team skills such as collaboration, innovation and decision making.

So what should team leaders do to foster robust team discussions and good decision-making? Leaders play a significant role in setting the parameters of the discussion and ensuring the right people are at the table with good information and a clear understanding of the needed outcome. The leader must also carefully consider the potential contributions of each team member and monitor the discussion to make sure all the voices are being heard, especially minority opinions.

One way to encourage exploration of diverse points of view is to ask the team “if we were to go down that path, how might that add to what we know? what’s valuable about that perspective?” or words to that effect. Other questions to help avoid group think include “What might we be missing? What assumptions are we making that might not be true?” A good exercise for the team is coming up with questions that stimulate positive discussion when considering different or less popular approaches and ensuring the list is close at hand when tackling tough issues.

Just as leaders need to hold back from over-participating in discussions, recent research suggests that groups make better decisions if participants refrain from voicing their opinion about the decision until all the information has been explored and everyone has contributed to the discussion. Voicing your opinion at the outset has the effect of priming you to only hear information that supports your point of view rather than listening with an open mind.

Great leaders model good communication when they listen first and speak later.