Why do so many people choose not to speak up at work? Interestingly, it’s not always because we fear retribution or other negative consequences. In fact, the biggest reason people do not speak to their managers concerning feedback or suggestions is that they feel nothing would change even if they did speak up. According to a survey from the Cornel University Survey Research Institute, respondents chose not to speak up to their managers because they think it is “a waste of time.” This feeling of futility can have far reaching effects on employees and the work environment as a whole.
The problem reminds me of the psychological theory of learned helplessness. Learned helplessness is the idea that depression and other negative mental states and illnesses “result from a perceived absence of control over the outcome of the situation.” Although the theory was originally studied in animals, it has applications in people too, particularly in the workplace. When employees feel like they have no control, they begin to feel helpless; and when they feel helpless or like all of their feedback ‘falls on deaf ears,’ why would they speak up at work?
So how do we fix this problem? Claire Lew, the CEO of Know Your Company, provides some suggestions:
- Treat people that do speak up with dignity and respect. Ensure that they know they are being heard.
- Explain why you are not doing something. If there’s no explanation for not following their suggestions, employees will assume that the new ideas brought to the table are simply being ignored.
- Act on your employees’ suggestions. Claire states that the best way to encourage employees to speak up more and create a positive workplace is to act on the feedback offered – no matter how small.
These changes are relatively small and very easy to implement, but they have a huge impact on the company culture and on the employees working there. The next hurdle might be actually getting managers to listen to feedback about feedback…
Lisa,
Thanks for sharing. I can definitely see how this feeling of helplessness can permeate throughout the office. What I have observed is that Item 1 in the list takes place only by acknowledging what someone said immediately after they make their contribution. Items 2 and 3 however are often ignored. If suggestions are not going to be acted on, it must be clear to employees that management at the very least took the suggestions seriously and exhausted all efforts to implement them.
Very valid point Lisa. Besides the fact that managers may not act upon suggestions from employees, there is definitely the fear of retribution.
There also tends to be hierarchical barriers that could be a bit prohibitive. I had an experience where my immediate manager was not very Excel literate and therefore never forwarded an idea I had to streamline a function. I forwarded this information to his manager and his manager loved it and jumped on the idea. My immediate manager however became very offended as you could imagine.