#ThinkfullyHabit: Write first, discuss later

When hearing new information or ideas, encourage yourself to write down your immediate ‘gut feel’ thoughts before they are lost, overshadowed or influenced by others.

 

WHY?

It seems simple enough, but this quick exercise can be incredibly powerful.

Professor Leigh Thompson, a management professor at Northwestern University, found that in a typical 6-person group, two people do over 60% of the talking*. As the group gets bigger, this effect gets more and more magnified.

The ‘write first, discuss later’ principle not only helps to account for having both introverts and extroverts in the team, but will reveal people’s immediate reactions before they get overshadowed by others. It will also highlight any starting assumptions people are making about the issue that may need challenging.

REFERENCES

  • THOMPSON, L. (2013), Creative Conspiracy: The New Rules of Breakthrough Collaboration, Harvard Business School Publishing: United States.

 
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