Talk For The Sake of Talking – The Common Disease In A Team

Yes, the title says it all. It happens a lot everywhere in the world. I would like to share with you two incidences:

1. In one of the teambuilding sessions I facilitated, I met a participant whom we shall call ‘A Man’. He was very enthusiastic, and with a high promoter-ish energy. In the beginning, he was perceived by many of his team mates as a leader because he likes to talk a lot and at least I thought he was quite funny. As the session moved along he wanted to have a say in everything. It started to get annoying. At this point he was just talking for the sake of talking. When any of the other participants stood up to share and make a point, he had a point to that point. By him doing that, he did not allow anyone in the team to speak-up and gain value from the session. The other participants knew that. Then came the feedback session. Well, you guessed it! From the moment my lead facilitator said ‘GO!’ Everyone zeroed in on A Man, waiting to give him feedback about how he behaved. After the feedback session, we still had one more day to go for the teambuilding session. A Man was calmer. He only spoke when he really needed to. We were amazed with that immediate change.

2. Last week, we had a new apprentice we’ll call ‘Miss B’. We were in our weekly Work In Progress Meeting (WIP) on Thursdays, and at the end of every WIP we always have a feedback session. Each and every person will have an opportunity to say something. So, when it came to “Miss B’s” turn and this would be the third day she’d been with us. When she opened her mouth, she started saying why she could not work for long hours and continued giving excuses about her ailments even before she began the real work. This was just warm-up. She continued blabbering about these excuses and until a point she realized what she was saying did not make any sense at all. This is exactly what she said at the end “I don’t know what I am saying. This is how I am”. Another example of talking for the sake of talking. For every individual who joins our organization, we will explain our company’s working culture and a choice is given before joining and yes she agreed to it. Miss B did not show up the following Monday. And that evening was the last we saw of her.

I’d like to share with you a few things you should do & not do to prevent you from getting this disease:

1. Think first before you talk or say something.
2. Use common sense.
3. LISTEN and observe first before making a point.
4. If you have ailments, especially minor ones, don’t make it an excuse not to perform a task. People don’t care.
5. Lastly, always be responsible for your communication.