Excessive Explanation - A cry for help?

Call me mad, but what if I were to tell you, the technical people in your organization are some of the most at-risk personas of imposter syndrome. If you give me a moment of your time, I’d like to share with you what I am talking about, the impact it can have, but most important of all, how you can help your people.

Excessive Explanation

A large part of my role gives me the opportunity to meet with people to develop for future roles in the team, and during these interviews, I quite often ask questions of people not to just to validate their understanding of a topic, but to observe how the sharing of ideas and concepts are communicated. In a recent interview, I asked a question to a candidate to explain to me the top 2 alternative technologies to a solution area we offered. Rather than just name the two technologies, the candidate explained for the next 25 minutes the state of each technology, the gaps that each technology had, and why we had a superior offering. I am not even sure the person took a breath, even I was exhausted at the end. Herein lies the problem, of what I call “Excessive Explanation”.

Put simply Excessive Explanation is a behavior I have observed in many people over the years, in meetings, in presentations, in one on ones, something even I have been guilty of myself. It is when a person engaged in a conversation tends to dominate the dialogue by stating every single factoid, statistic, and proof point that is known about a particular topic. The question we need to ask is why do people do it?

Over the last 18 months technology has evolved and accelerated to solve the biggest challenges humankind faces, but what hasn’t changed (yet), is the need for people to help articulate what the technology can do and the value it can bring. As the competitive nature between high technology companies accelerates, so too has the pressure on technical professionals to know more, learn more and learn faster in order to help communicate ideas and maintain the perception of expertise in their field.

Technical professionals are under pressure to know all the answers, and if you don’t know all the answers, then maybe you aren’t very good at your job, in fact, maybe you shouldn’t be in the job at all. Looking back at my career, I constantly observed peers in similar roles and was frustrated at what I didn’t know, or what I didn’t understand. The reality was that these peers had years of experience on me, that I was just developing, yet being in a high-performance culture had kept me wondering “Why can’t I be as good as them?”, and it led to my own acts of Excessive Explanation to mask my emotional state.

Excessive Explanation is the manifestation of Imposter Syndrome in technical professionals. It is the self-reassurance that people fall in to, to convince themselves in the presence of others that they have the right to be in a position, or even the right to be heard. This behavior was documented in revised research on Imposter Syndrome, “Impostors are motivated to achieve primarily to "look smart," reflected in a strong focus on the self during achievement attempts and a concern for what their performance indicates to others about their abilities.” (Langford & Clance, 1993). This can lead to the individual becoming introverted, and worse becoming much more defensive when receiving feedback. These emotions and behaviours left unchecked can have a detrimental impact on the development of the individual as it relates to growth in their role and for future roles, their ability to take on new challenges and risks, and in some cases influence the behaviour of those around them, especially in organizational teams.

Destructive Dialogue

Now we understand that Excessive Explanation is a symptom of Imposter Syndrome in technical professionals, and the impact on the individual themselves, it’s also important to recognize the potential harm it can result in the people they deal with.

As the human race we grow through the sharing of ideas, opinions and experiences from people of diverse backgrounds, genders, race etc. The key to sharing is good communication, and this means a combination of dialogue and listening between parties. Excessive Explanation is the inverse behaviour to communication, it is the unintentional domination of a conversation by a single individual, which decimates the ability to share an idea. The offender may not even realize it’s happening, or have a belief that it is actually beneficial to the other party.

Research has shown though that effectiveness of understanding is not improved by landing increased facts and figures, but in the pauses we create and the opportunity for the brain to process, “The sentences that contained a half second pause turned out to be significantly easier to understand than sentences that lacked pauses and sentences that contained an unusually long pause.” (University of Gothenburg, 2015). In addition to the pauses for people to stop and take in the information being shared with them, they also need the opportunity to ask questions about the information. Questions are an indication that the ideas you are sharing are connecting with your intended audience. If the audience isn’t able to have an opportunity to explore the way their opportunities connect to the speakers ideas, a huge missed opportunity on value being realized is gone.

Excessive Explanation left unchecked hampers true communication and will be the downfall of understanding and adoption of ideas you want to share with others.

Coaching for Communication

The good news is Excessive Explanation and its underlying phycological pattern of Imposter Syndrome can be addressed but will require a long-term strategy and a culture of trust to help those who are impacted.

It begins with recognizing the signs of Excessive Explanation and having a conversation with the individual about it. As stated earlier, a behavioral attribute arising from Imposter Syndrome can be the defensive barrier that people might put up as it relates to receiving feedback. Its critical to start by reassuring the individual that the reason they are in their role today is in recognition of the skills they already have, or the capability to develop skills in their defined area. Imposter Syndrome is that belief that someone doubts their specific skill sets or capabilities, so it’s important to address that head on. In fact, the opportunity to learn and develop should not be a chore or problem, but an opportunity to celebrate.

Leverage available technologies to help address the symptoms of Excessive Explanation, and help people see it for themselves. PowerPoint, Microsoft’s own presentation software, has a built-in coach now for rehearsal that can be used to measure pace and tone, even helping you avoid culturally sensitive terms (Microsoft, n.d.). If you don’t have that you can always use a webcam to either record the person doing a presentation, or better yet a recording of a mock conversation with you as the customer. This will give an opportunity for you to review with the person, and identify opportunities where pauses could be landed, or opportunities for the customer to ask questions. Being able to see if for themselves will help to address it in a very practical way.

Finally, ensure you are actively highlighting the individual’s great examples of where they are facilitating communication and curiosity with the customer better. It’s a simple thing to say someone did a great job but being able to reinforce by highlighting specific moments such as, “I love the way you asked the customer what their experience was like.”, or “The way you paused long enough to see the understanding dawn on the customer was amazing.”. These are reinforcing behaviors that will go a long way to building confidence and reinforcing good communication skills.

Managing Mental Health

Addressing mental health issues such as Imposter Syndrome and it’s symptoms such as Excessive Explanation has never been more critical than it is today. With extended periods of separation from support groups such as workplace colleagues, people struggle to get that recognition of their efforts working in isolation. It’s our responsibility to observe the signs that can arise in any forum, and work with our colleagues to create an environment where they are valued for their capabilities and recognized for their contribution.

Works Cited

Langford, J., & Clance, P. R. (1993, Fall). THE IMPOSTOR PHENOMENON: RECENT RESEARCH FINDINGS REGARDING DYNAMICS, PERSONALITY AND FAMILY PATTERNS AND THEIR IMPLICATIONS FOR TREATMENT. Retrieved from Paul Rose Clance: https://paulineroseclance.com/pdf/-Langford.pdf

University of Gothenburg. (2015, September 30). Pauses can make or break a conversation. Retrieved from Science Daily: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/09/150930110555.htm

Microsoft. (n.d.). Rehearse your slide show with Presenter Coach. Retrieved from Microsoft Support: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/rehearse-your-slide-show-with-presenter-coach-cd7fc941-5c3b-498c-a225-83ef3f64f07b

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