Some of you may have experienced something that I experience everyday dealing with partners within accounting practices. I tried to reach a partner of a practice this morning and found that they were unavailable. That’s because they were neck deep in dealing with client and team member matters
I have to admit, when I was in practice there were teams that were quite vocal every time they were busy, other teams dealt with the same workload quietly in the background. It always amazed me that the quiet team ended up producing the best productivity and got through all the work with little fuss. Who would have thought?
Sometimes we forget that the most productive people in an practice aren’t the ones who make the most noise. In fact, it’s often the quiet ones who out-produce everyone else.
Within Roberta Chinsky Matuson book “Suddenly in Charge” she lists the following as possible reasons others have found across all business worlds. Roberta refers to a team outing at a clam farm.
Being quiet strengthens focus. It’s hard to focus on the task at hand when you yourself are making so much noise. The other team, who participated in the clamming wars, never took their eye off the prize. Our team, on the other hand, did a happy dance in the sand every time we hit pay dirt. In retrospect, this was probably valuable time wasted.
Being quiet calms others. Quiet people have the ability to calm those around them. For example, when everyone is stressing out because it looks like a team isn’t going to meet their deadlines, it’s usually the quiet people who are able to calm people down and carry them over the finish line.
Being quiet conveys confidence. You don’t have to prove anything to anyone when you are confident. You know you do a good job and you believe that eventually others will take notice.
Being quiet means you think before you speak. Quiet people are usually thoughtful thinkers. They think things through before making a statement. Something you probably wish many of your workers would do before taking up your valuable time.
Being quiet gives you the space to dig deep. Quiet people tend to delve into issues and ideas before moving on to new ones. Compare this to the surface people in your organization, who often move onto other matters without giving thought to the gold that may be sitting right below the surface.
The next time you evaluate team performance, be sure to give credit where credit is due. Remember that at the end of the day, it’s not about the noise one makes, but what one actually gets done.
