Five Ways Leaders Can Get People to Speak Up

Peek under the hood of any corporate scandal or organizational failure, and you will almost certainly find one person, if not more, who knew that something was awry but failed to raise their concerns to leaders who were in a position to do something about it. Take, for example, an independent report commissioned by Credit Suisse’s board to identify the reasons behind the staggering $5.5 billion loss the company incurred after the collapse of Archegos Capital Management. What the investigators found is that the failure stemmed in part from a “cultural unwillingness” to challenge the bank’s leaders, even as escalating risks became increasingly obvious.1 This storyline of failure isn’t unique. Across industries — including health care, car manufacturing, and aviation — the root cause of many crises can be traced back to environments in which employees felt unable, or unwilling, to voice their concerns.2

Despite the well-known and often disastrous consequences of silence, many leaders remain confused about how to effectively solicit challenges from their teams. Often, leaders are given vague advice to help employees “feel safe” to speak up. While this advice is well-meaning, it does little to help leaders understand what specific and concrete actions they can take to create such feelings. Platitudes about psychological safety do not equip leaders with the practical tools necessary and proven to solicit valuable challenges from teams.

To flesh out this critical gap in understanding, we, along with two colleagues from Imperial College Business School’s Centre for Responsible Leadership and in collaboration with the Financial Services Culture Board, conducted an innovative field study to observe leader-team interactions in a real-world setting. In a carefully designed experiment within a financial institution, team leaders participated in 43 live meetings and (unbeknownst to their teams, who were in attendance) deliberately advocated for an objectively flawed or weak idea.