How over explaining loses authority in a cooperate world?

In a corporate world, communication is currency. Yet, when communication turns into excessive talking or over explaining, its value can depricate. Over explaining sometimes stems from good intension to help. However sometimes over explaining also stems from possessing tremendous knowledge on a topic, which the speaker becomes passionate about sharing. They are able to make links faster in their head and speech than the listener can understand and comprehend. On the contrary, it can highlight lack of knowledge and misalignment in job role.  

Over explaining can also be derived for insecurity and their efforts to be understood and valued in the outer world. If not managed, eventually it becomes a habit.  

So what are the consequences of over explaining? 

Over explaining can lead to lose of inner authority and overall clarity. Respect and credibility is built through clear thinking, being precise and decisive and turning that into actions. Over explaining loses credibility amongst people and therefore losing their interest. It leads to lack of trust with judgement and decision making.  

Over talking and explaining can also lead to overall inefficiency and delays in decision making. Over explaining dilutes the original topic and diverts it to an alternative topic, which may not be the current priority. Another meeting or multiple email communications are then required afterwards. The digress of the initial topic and overload of unnecessary additional  information requires extra time to absorb, process, dissect by removing noise to make a conscious decision. As a result it leads to inefficient and unproductive use of time. 

Excessive talking by one individual reduces the chances of other individuals contributing and expressing their opinions, leaving them demotivated and less valued. Consequently leading to decrease in contributions and overall engagement. If a prompt decision is required for a situation, it is likely that decision is based on individual who over expresses. Here decision making can induces risks which needs to be later mitigated. An intelligent person is not always the loudest. It can give a false impression of extent of knowledge and expertise someone who over talks possess. It is likely the best solution gets hidden behind all this. 

Being part of such dynamics can be mentally exhausting for the speaker, listener and senior management. Speaker will feel tired of expressing, listeners will feel draining and senior management are left with confusion. It has a knock down effect on performance, time management, prioritisation and reaching conclusion. 

Inefficiency from over explaining needs to be identified early and managed appropriately. If not recognised early, it leads to frustration, demotivation and meaningful collaboration within a team. Clarity is often diluted in over load of information, impacting decision making and eventually increasing chances of risks associated with it. Time is money, therefore time management is vital. 

That said, silence is not a solution here. It is about ensuring balance between speaking, listening and actions.