Get Your Team to Speak Up: Here's How

Teams achieve better outcomes when all their members speak the same language. But to do that, you need to get everyone on the same page―invite differences of opinion, challenge assumptions, and address concerns.

When you ask your team to share their ideas, thoughts, suggestions, or feedback, how many of them actually speak up? Do they share what you want to hear or what they’re actually thinking in their heads?

Getting your team to voice their true ideas and opinions is important because not knowing what they’re thinking can lead to confusion, misalignment of expectations, and misunderstandings. Not speaking up also leads to groupthink―people in the team conform to dominant opinions without questioning their validity. Mistakes that could have been flagged early go unnoticed. Critical insights and alternative solutions are missed. Thinking that their inputs don’t matter also leaves team ...