Do your team members speak up?

Colin Powell, the retired Army General and former US Secretary of State, said, “The day soldiers stop bringing you their problems is the day you have stopped leading them.” It seems obvious that managers need team members to speak up. By virtue of their position, managers don’t always know all that is happening on the ground. In the current environment of loss of privacy and security breaches, we exhort our employees with posters of “See something, say something.” We want them to speak up when they notice abuse, crime or threats to anyone’s safety. We also want them to speak up when they have ideas to contribute or when they don’t fully understand something. We instinctively know that an engaged and empowered employee will also be productive and creative.

But despite our best efforts and intentions, some of our team members will remain silent. This is not necessarily because they have disengaged from all that is going on. Their reticence can be explained by any of several reasons: one could be an aversion to the spotlight. A fear of making a mistake or appearing uninformed is a more likely explanation. “What will others think of me?” and “The others in the room are senior to me and so must know more than me” are pernicious forms of self-talk that can hold one back from making valuable, original contributions. I have seen some team members in India hesitate to speak up because of a lack of confidence in their English language skills. As leaders, we should be especially concerned about those who have learned it’s better to stay silent. Their contributions in the past may have been either ridiculed or just ignored. This is not an attitude we want in our team members and we can do much to reverse such mindsets.

Here’s a short list of what we can do, as leaders, to encourage our team members to speak up:

1. Develop the right intent. If you truly care about what your team members think, it will show. Asking someone what they think with a genuine interest is one of the highest compliments you can pay them. And not surprisingly, pretending to want to hear their ideas will also show.
2. Listen and act on suggestions. Do this consistently and you will earn the image of one who cares, listens and does something. Rewarding people publicly for their valuable suggestions sends a clear message on what behaviours you care about and that you will not take false credit. If the suggestion is not practical, thank the team member for their idea and explain politely to him / her why it can’t be done. These simple acts will earn their respect.
3. Model the behaviour you want. When you ask someone for more details or to repeat what they said, your team members are watching and learning that it is okay to not understand something at first, that it is okay to ask for explanations.
4. Create new forums for the exchange of ideas. Organize working lunches or workshops to brainstorm and get new ideas on tackling persistent problems. Create competitions so your teams can compete to provide the most creative ideas. This will make the sharing of ideas fun, and at the same time, can cause new connections to form. The number of people who work alongside each other but remain nodding acquaintances is incredible – these events can break down silos and create an environment of openness.

A caveat: there will always be those who won’t speak up in meetings. They may be more comfortable in 1-on-1 interactions, or aren’t very quick on their feet but take their time to come up with great solutions, or are perhaps introverted. Some of these people may be the brightest in your organization. Knowing who these people are, understanding their style of communicating and engaging with them accordingly will make you effective at getting the best out of everyone in your team.