Encourage your team to challenge your thinking and provide opportunities for them to ask questions.
Clearly, an organization that does not trust its employees enough to listen to them is in trouble; however, denial that it is struggling can be difficult to overcome. Some questions might help you ascertain whether your organization’s culture inhibits its success.
- Are most of your team members quiet during meetings?
- Are people ignored, marginalized, or silenced when they speak up?
- Do people stop talking when a manager approaches?
- Do people avoid conflict and controversy?
- Do team members blame others or external factors when issues arise?
- As a leader, do you ignore issues rather than have tough conversations?
- Do you tend to sugarcoat bad news or problems rather than confront reality as it is?
If the response to any of these questions is yes, your organization might be silencing problems. We can only solve problems that we can discuss, and the sooner we address the silent, lurking issues, the better off the organization will be.
Strategies for Addressing Silent Problems
Promote psychological safety. Fear brings out the worst in people. Team members become adept at avoiding issues because they are afraid of creating conflict, being uncomfortable, or being criticized.
Providing a safe space for discussion is the foundation for open dialogue.
Lead with questions. You can let your team know how much you value them by asking them questions and listening well. Encourage your team to challenge your thinking and provide opportunities for them to ask questions. This can be in the form of a fun, interactive activity where everyone writes their questions on sticky notes and team members take turns answering them. Take the time to teach them that asking the right questions is important to success in a fast-paced world.
Encourage continuous feedback. The more you avoid problems, the worse they will become. It is so much easier to address issues while they are small; silencing concerns is nearly a guarantee that they will fester. On-going feedback and a focus on continuous improvement will provide a vehicle for honest discussion.
Celebrate mistakes, not just wins. Many organizations only acknowledge achievements; however, they miss the opportunity to discuss failures. To improve, we have to identify areas of weakness and develop goals for improvement.
Name that problem. We can only solve problems that we can identify. Explicitly naming problems is the first step toward solving them. One way to do this is to start meetings with a question, “What has caused you angst this week?” When people can name the problems, it is easier to determine the roadblocks.
When everyone is equally accountable for solving a problem, people are less likely to blame others.
Share the responsibility. Creating an environment where everyone understands that “we are in this together” will go a long way in developing a level of comfort for team members to speak up when they see a problem. When everyone is equally accountable for solving a problem, people are less likely to blame others.
Destigmatize problems. Some organizations associate problems with weaknesses. In reality, denial is the real sign of weakness. It is more beneficial to help our team shift their perspective from viewing problems as weaknesses to viewing them as opportunities to improve.
Promote healthy conflicts. We do not want to encourage infighting in our teams; however, asking questions that encourage debate can create energy that propels the team forward. Successful teams can benefit from having someone act as a devil’s advocate. Listening to everyone and probing deeply into issues allows everyone to help detect threats and opportunities.
Dispelling the Silence
We need every member of our team to work in tandem to accomplish our goals. We cannot afford to waste human capital by perpetuating an environment where people fear exposing problems. Truly good leaders can facilitate honest discussion in a safe environment. When this happens, we find that team members are not only identifying current issues, but also becoming more comfortable sharing their concerns about future events. Their ability to anticipate issues is the real payoff in dispelling the deadly silence that can cripple an organization.
Resource
Zappe, J. “You Can’t Fix What You Refuse to See.” TLNT, 23 Dec. 2019, www.tlnt.com/you-cant-fix-what-you-refuse-to-see.