How would you rate your culture? Perhaps the below can be helpful.

At work:

• Do you and others feel free to share opinions or ideas?
• Do you and others feel a sense of belonging?
• Do you and others feel free to ask questions of colleagues and leaders?

Unfortunately, there are many people in organizations that may answer these questions with a “no”.

I work with many individuals, teams, and organizations who claim they want to empower and hear more from the rest of the employees and are struggling to understand why many remain quiet. The reality is, some people are wired to “take a back seat” or self-protect based on their personality or past experiences, yet, when encouraged and given space to participate, most would come forward.

A recent McKinsey & Company Article on Structured conversation during brainstorming sessions removes some of the risks that thwart honest discussion, presents a viable solution to improve results from “brainstorming” when an actual – live brainstorming session is ineffective. What this article brought up for me is curiosity! What is getting in the way of a productive live brainstorming session?

The article shares that when individuals don’t fully share what they might like to be contributing, it’s often a sign that they are looking to conform, avoid conflict, or avoid rejection. So, in the article, it offered an anonymous way to brainstorm. This made me wonder about the culture. Rather than avoid improving the culture by delivering a “fix”, this could be an opportunity to set new standards.

If getting people to engage is a challenge for you, your team or an organization, I would challenge you to look at this “silence” as an opportunity to address the culture, as well as to support leaders to learn new ways to engage employees. How a leader communicates and reacts, can make all the difference.

Some helpful focus areas for leaders to create a safer space and gain input from others include:

• Be humble
• Ask for participation and communicate that all ideas are welcome
• Put aside any bias
• Put aside any judgment
• Listen – actively listen – and listen more than you talk
• Ask open-ended, non-leading questions
• Show appreciation
• Accept that failure/mistakes will happen – and that’s okay

How do you want to lead your next meeting? Looking for support to be a more effective leader, improve employee engagement, or drive an improved culture? Let’s Connect.

“Good questions make silence awkward.” – Amy Edmondson