Power Of Knowing When To Shut Up

Learning To Not Get In Your Teammates' way

In this short essay i want to share a recent observation about how to become a more effective team member - especially in small teams.

When you're a part of the team filled with proactive, energetic and smart people, there will always be conflicting ideas. I've noticed that the default behaviour of such people is to always share their ideas & push for their solutions. This is natural, since they are confident & driven.

However, it's common to find yourself constantly thinking of & suggesting alternative, perhaps "better" ideas to what your teammates suggested.

To be effective as team, you must know when to shut up & let the ideas of others emerge. Of course, this doesn't mean to get to the extreme point of never sharing ideas or never suggesting stuff. It's more about knowing when to not let your ego get in the way of the team's productivity and not interfering constantly.