A series of laboratory experiments examined how team members react to the degree to which the formal leader talks during meetings. MBA students were assigned to work on a leadership simulation. The first experiment showed that leaders who felt powerful were more likely to verbally dominate discussions, and this decreased perception of their openness. As a result, team performance was lower. The second experiment replicated these findings and further demonstrated the important role of team members’ reactions to leaders’ behavior. Feelings of power increased leaders’ autocratic tendencies, and their formal role determined team members’ willingness to give in to them. The third experiment found that teams with powerful formal leaders reported higher levels of their leader talking, lower team open communication, and lower team performance. When leaders were reminded that all team members had the potential to contribute to team success, these effects did not emerge. These findings show that a leader’s awareness of the importance of their team members having a voice overcomes their tendency to dominate the discussion. This matters most when the leader is not an expert. Other research has demonstrated that team performance suffers when the leader does not take followers’ advice when they are not the “star” performer on the team. Another study found that leaders who view their leadership role as an opportunity to tell others what to do rather than as a responsibility toward others are more likely to ignore advice given by team members. Taken together, these studies suggest that leaders must be mindful that they may not know everything. When they aren’t, and they dominate team discussions, team performance suffers............

Discussion Questions

1. Why do you think that being assigned as a formal leader results in the person dominating team discussions?

2. Have you ever held back communication in a team when the leader behaved autocratically? Explain why the leader’s amount of talking suppresses team members’ open communication.

3. How can organizations implement the idea that reminding a leader of the importance of open communication is important for team performance?