When we communicate, our brain is deeply engaged in the process of forming and expressing our ideas. It is notoriously difficult, in parallel to retain a degree of self-awareness and objectivity around how we are communicating. Verbal and non-verbal cues from the person we are speaking to give us some idea but these are highly variable, as is our ability to decode and act on them. The most fundamental measure of communication is the amount of time each person spends talking and listening. And yet we are terrible at assessing this objectively. Our research indicates that people under-estimate their share of voice by as much as 25%.

Don't miss our must-read on the Science page: Talk to listen ratio, a thought-provoking article written by Dr. Nicky Terblanche - academic, researcher, leadership coach, and entrepreneur.

This depends entirely on the context of your communication. If you're training someone or providing feedback, it will probably be above 50%. If you're conducting a job interview, probably as low as 10%. In coaching, the science says 20% to 30% generates the best client outcomes, and this is the band shown on your coaching dashboard as the "green zone". But there is no right answer! It will vary across meetings, clients, and coaches.

So, if we don't know how much we are talking, and we mostly miss the verbal cues, how do we manage and improve this key part of communication?

Reviewing and reflecting on your meetings in the light of your share of voice metric will help you decide what works for you. The share of voice timeline that is shown below the video on your meeting review page is a useful tool here - highlighting when you spoke and listened in a meeting.

You may identify that you talk a lot early in meetings, or that you sometimes monologue in the middle of a meeting as you get engaged in your client's topic. Awareness is the first and most important step here.

Sharing your dashboard and meeting with a trusted observer (always with client's consent) is very effective. These experienced communicators are able to rapidly provide feedback and steps you can take to make changes if you decide you need to.

Once you've decided you'd like to make a change, be sure to conduct a series of meetings on Ovida, track your performance, and keep getting feedback from a trusted observer.

Results differ for every individual, but 75% of coaches whose talk time falls materially outside of the "green zone" and who identify this as a development goal improve measurably (>50% reduction in gap to "green zone") within 3 meetings.