When people in your company feel like they can’t speak up, everyone loses. 

Manager don’t learn about problems until those problems are too big to hide. Managers and teams alike miss out on ideas, different points of view, concerns, and risks. Employees feel less valued and less invested in their work and the company. They may just dial it in, figuring their managers don’t really care to hear from them. The organization suffers, too. The quality of decisions deteriorates, employee engagement drops. People expend energy fighting fires that didn’t need to get any bigger than a spark.

The benefits of creating an environment where people can speak up provides the opposite. Better decisions, more engagement, smoother operations.

So why don’t people speak up?

In a word, hierarchy. There is almost always some friction in speaking up in hierarchies. This is an artifact of status and power differences. It just is, but the degree varies greatly depending on how much those differences are enforced. 

Here’s how that can show up:

• People worry that the boss will take it the wrong way if they point out an issue.
• People fear that their idea will be picked apart in public.
• People believe that raising issues and concerns are “above their pay grade.” 

And how can we make it easier for people to speak up? These three strategies can make it easier for people to bring important information forward.

Normalize Problems, So People Bring Them Up Without Fear  

No, I don’t mean lowering standards or accepting haphazard work. Most of people don’t love hearing there’s a problem. However, they are a fact of life, and projects, and business.  But, it is important to discern the type of problem you’re dealing with. 

When a problem could have been prevented by a known approach or procedure, that’s an opportunity for learning.  Do people understand the approach?  Is the procedure so onerous that people find it difficult to follow?  Are they under so much pressure that they cut corners?

Is the problem the result of the interaction of a number of different factors? These can be hard to predict and prevent. Thinking systemically can help. Look at how the various factors that make up your system interact. Even a simple system model may help you anticipate (and potentially avoid) some of the potential problems.  And some times, things just come together in a certain way, and boom, you’ve got a problem…one which may or may not occur again.  If it does reoccur, then you can do more analysis and perhaps come up with approach the pushes it into the Preventable domain.

The final type of problem comes from intelligent experiments and risk taking. And experiment, by definition, involves an uncertain outcome. You know it may not work as planned. But you started with a hypothesis. You’ve thought about risks, downsides, and (hopefully) how to recover if things go sideways. You can learn from any problem, but learning is designed into this sort of problem.

When everyone understands that problems don’t lead to punishment, people are more like to bring them up.

Be Open to Exploring Issues, Risks, Problems and Hunches

One way to help people speak up about issues is to ask!  Seems simple.  Consider questions like these: What’s keeping you up at night? What’s worrying you?

But what happens next is important. When someone raises an issue or problem get curious.  Aim for exploration,  not interrogation. Asking for excessive proof will shut people down.  So will interrupting.

Follow up with, What have you observed about [issue]? , or another question that builds on what they’ve shared.

From there, you can probe to find out more about frequency, intervals, patterns, and so forth.  Or you can discuss what signals might be useful, and how to monitor them.

When some one says, “I’m not sure, I can’t quite put my finger on it,”  get really curious!  Hunches are often early warnings.  Explore what signals you might want to keep an eye on.  That uneasy feeling is actually pretty common with people who have deep expertise. It represents information that is so internalized that it functions at a level that is beneath conscious thought.

Be an Ally by Supporting Other’s Voices

Even if you don’t have formal power, you can help others speak up.  Build on what someone else has said (while recognizing the original speaker). For example, “I want to go back to what Dmitri said…”  Or “Building on what Andrea said…”

If you have data that might corroborate, offer it.  Or offer to help get some data to explore the issue that’s come up.

If you notice someone who looks like they’re trying to break into a conversation, see if you can create an opening.  If you see something, say something to help someone else say something:  “It looks like Sam has something to add…”

In summary:

Most organizations try to hire smart, capable people. It makes no sense to stifle their voices. Making it easier for people to speak up will lead to better decisions and actions.

You can watch the full video here.