How To Handle Ramblers

As leaders of teams oftentimes we wonder what do we do with ramblers? Now whether it is a customer, whether it is a team member, whether it is a colleague, you and I both know that when we have people rambling not a lot is getting done. So what can we do?

Well, let’s put it into context of who you are interacting with. Keep in mind that the tips I am going to share with you on this podcast have to include information on personality styles as well.

Different personalities will respond differently to what I am going to be sharing with you so you can take this and contextually apply it as it works for you. Also the other factor we want to consider when we look at dealing with ramblers is situational. You might have somebody who is not typically a rambler but based on a high stress situation becomes one so these tips will help you overall deal with somebody who is rambling.

First of all let’s look at the team member. You have got a team member who comes up and they are rambling. A technique that I find works really well is to just gently put my hand up, very calm but not a forceful hand but just a gentle hand and then I typically say, “I am wanting to focus on what you are saying here, can you please share with me in two sentences or less what the bottom line is here?”

This technique typically works really well with a team member. First of all, if you are working with a team member they probably already know that you are somebody who is direct and to the point and so they know that that is your communication style and they haven’t really been able to get out of their own rambling style. So generally they appreciate when you put your hand up gently and say could you in two sentences or less tell me what it is that you are trying to tell me. That works really well.

Another one that works really well with customers is if the customer is rambling and oftentimes they don’t really necessarily know what they want so they are going on and on it is very very useful to be able to say, “Excuse me, could we just go back to the point you made a few moments ago and focus on that for the next few minutes?” So you are actually going to help drive them back to the point that you want to explore in order to help them and move them forward with what they are talking about.

The third example is then with a colleague. If you are with a colleague you could really say to them, “Okay, wait a second. Could you stop there and let’s go here instead.” So you are redirecting them to a different direction so that they can stay focused with you on that particular point.

Now oftentimes with ramblers in my experience they are  amiable personalities – they know what they are trying to say in their mind, but they can’t articulate it in a nice short and direct easy way. It is our job as CEOs and leaders to help people communicate clearly and more succinctly so that we can get more done.

The bottom line for all of us is the less rambling the more that gets done.