Try experimenting with the sound of silence in meetings. It’ll help you. This is why

A recent Wall Street Journal article argues for using silence in meetings, for several purposes. Since I’m on a meeting “kick” this month, let me offer the article’s tips to improve meetings by not talking.

What does silence do for you in a meeting?

Silence works to your advantage in negotiations. Recent research by an MIT professor shows that negotiation breakthroughs happen almost twice as often when one party uses a pause from 3.5 seconds to 9.5 seconds. It gives both sides time to process what’s been said, and I suspect that in most Western cultures, it unnerves the receiver, because many of us are uncomfortable with silence.

Silence shows respect. When you pause after a person speaks, especially one of higher rank, it conveys that you’re thinking, giving respect to the other person’s comments. Doing so may help build trust. The experts recommend about a four-second pause. Interestingly, the reverse dynamic — a higher-ranked person pausing after a subordinate speaks — may be the wrong thing to do. If it involves disagreement or intimidation, no one wins.

Silence suggests that a comment is unacceptable. If someone makes an insulting comment and the rest of the group meets it with silence, that can suggest that the comment is out of line. Usually, the person making such comments gets the point, or at least the silencers can hope so.

Try experimenting with silence. If nothing else, you’ll have a different meeting experience.

Nancy Napier is a distinguished professor at Boise State University in Idaho. nnapier@boisestate.edu. She is co-author of “The Bridge Generation of Vietnam: Spanning Wartime to Boomtime.”