7 Ways to Get Your People to Speak Up

One of the foundations of any successful business is open and honest communication. An organization that restricts the dialogue between customers, employees, and managers, is an organization intentionally remains blind to their own possibilities. Successful organizations learn to take off their blinders, become better listeners, and learn to effectively communicate to their diverse audiences.

But how do you create the culture and climate necessary to ensure your people will tell you the truth, even the brutal truth? Researchers, writers, and consultants such as Brene’ Brown, Patrick Lencioni, James Kouzes, Barry Possner, Marcus Buckingham, and Jim Collins have been exploring this question for years. After years of studying their work, and applying their principles in real world situations, I have found there are seven underlying activities leaders must master to ensure their people speak up, regardless of the situation.

1. Make it safe. Do you tell your people you value open communication, but then punish those who actually communicate openly and honestly? If you do, you are killing your credibility and silencing your people. Instead, practice what you preach. Recognize and reward people for their willingness to jeopardize their own safety by telling you what you need to hear, not just what you want to hear. Practice listening without judgment, asking questions without an agenda, and engaging in dialogues that challenge your own assumptions. Your comfort with the uncomfortable will enhance your people’s willingness to speak up.
2. Be a role model: Your people look to you for cues as to what behaviors are allowed, what are accepted, and what are encouraged. Learning to align what you do with what you say, value, expect, and aspire to become, will help your people address their own discomfort. Misalignment creates doubt as to whether what you say is really what you mean. Admit when you mess up (because you will mess up) and let others walk beside you in your own development. Like it or not, your people are going to follow in your footsteps. What footsteps you give them to follow will determine your success (or failure) as a leader.
   
3. Give them options. No two people are exactly alike. Used effectively, the diversity of your people’s strengths and weaknesses will give your organization extraordinary leverage over your competition. To tap into their diversity, your people need options. Look for new ways to help them speak up. Creating ad hoc committees, holding coffee with the boss breakfasts, having one-on-one meetings, and employing cross functional work teams are all great ways to give people the opportunity to share ideas, concerns, and solutions. 
4. Destroy organization silos. If you want to make sure your people’s best ideas never see the light of day, enhance the strength of your organization’s silos. Doing so will create both artificial and physical boundaries for your people to overcome. Tearing down these silos will allow internal and external customers to have a voice throughout your business. Reward people who elicit divergent viewpoints from a diversity of sources, take action on what they learn, and recognize the value of a contribution far exceeds the source of a contribution.
5.  Criticize constructively, not destructively.  Being open to what your people tell you does not mean you will adopt every idea they bring to you, but it does mean you will consider every idea they bring to you. Be careful not to shut down a conversation merely because it challenges your thinking. Listen to understand, then explain your viewpoint constructively. By speaking up, your people are displaying tremendous vulnerability. Shutting down an idea destructively does not show your power, it shows your weakness.
6. Talk with your people, not at your people. Nobody likes a lecture. Ask questions to help you understand the problem, concern, or opportunity. Engage in a true dialogue, where you ask questions to learn. All too often, we engage in a series of parallel monologues where we are constantly listening to respond, rather than to understand. Some of the greatest ideas in business have formed through dialogue where the original concept morphed into something truly spectacular. This growth is only possible when you invite others into a two-way conversation.
7. Be approachable. I know this sounds like the most basic of concepts, but it is easy to get tunnel vision into what you need to accomplish. Your body language and presence speak volumes. When someone makes eye contact with you, smile. When someone asks to speak with you, find some time. Don’t delegate every interaction with your people. If you can’t speak to someone right then, follow-up and hear them out. Practice body language and meet in a setting that encourages communication, not that communicates distance. Learn to speak articulately, with a style that encourages interaction, conveys openness, and rewards risk.

Nobody has all the questions, let alone all the answers. If your people aren’t speaking up, find out why. Rewarding risk in the pursuit of growth is the only way to move forward. It's never too late to shift your culture and climate to encourage, reward, and appreciate those who display the vulnerability needed to speak up. 

Scott Brown, MSOL, is the Founder Hardie Consulting, an  Orlando, FL based management consulting firm. Scott is a coach, consultant, author, and award-winning speaker who has successfully helped countless organizations learn how to meet shifting customer and employee expectations. Follow him on Twitter: @ScottBrownMSOL, connect with him on LinkedIn, visit his company’s website:  www.HardieConsulting.com, and check out his new book, Alignment: How to Transform Potential into Performance, Productivity and Profit, available on Amazon or CreateSpace to learn more about how to develop the business you always dreamed of leading.