In meetings, leaders should often try to speak last. This is because their opinions often carry more weight, and can heavily influence others.
- This can stifle creativity, as people are less likely to disagree with the leader.
- This can lead to groupthink, where everyone ends up agreeing with the leader through a domino effect.
- This can also prevent the leader from understanding the true decision making ability of their team. If you have a team that's poor at decision making, you'll never know if you're always speaking first.
So if you're a leader, try to speak last. It'll give you a good gauge on how your team thinks when you're not in the room, and it'll give them a chance to express their own ideas, some of which might be better than yours.