Don’t be this person in a meeting

I've worked with people who always feel the need to respond to everything.

Repeating back what someone else said. Giving a generic response of "makes sense" or "sounds good". Or saying something completely irrelevant to the topic.

You can spot it immediately.

In most cases it comes down to two things:

1) They are nervous that they don't know enough so they fill the silence
2) They think saying something equals contributing...in reality it does the opposite

Over time they get a reputation of adding nothing or worse, taking conversations off track.

And it's not just junior employees, you see this at senior levels too.

The best contributors don't speak the most, they speak when they have something to add. Silence in a meeting doesn't mean you aren't paying attention. Well-timed, thoughtful input builds credibility, not noise.