Workplace Culture: Creating an Environment Where Employees Speak Up

Above all, inclusive leadership means building genuine trust between employees and managers. But how does it work?

The term “speak-up culture” describes an environment in which employees can communicate sensitive topics openly and without fear of negative consequences. Companies with such a culture benefit from constructive and honest feedback from employees, often valuable for change management. They also avoid the lasting damage caused by ongoing interpersonal conflicts and unsolved cases of misconduct. But before employees feel that they can openly address issues at work, they often need to build up trust. This is called “psychological safety” and describes an environment without fear.

What is psychological safety?

Google examined the factors that make their teams successful, and identified that psychological safety is by far the most important factor. It may sound easy to take risks in a familiar setting, but remember your last meeting: Did you really feel like you could openly challenge the goal of the project? Did you maybe decide not to ask questions that might cause discomfort or make you look incompetent? In negative working cultures we often choose self-protection strategies, even though they are proven to be detrimental to collaboration and make teamwork more difficult.

Psychological safety has many advantages for business: The safer the members of a team feel, the more likely they are to admit mistakes. They cooperate more frequently and take on more responsibility and new roles. At the same time, the company as a whole also profits. Psychologically safe employees stay with the company longer, are more open to change and innovation, and are significantly more productive.

How do employees act in a speak-up culture?

How can team leaders tell if there is already a speak-up culture in their company? Some employee behaviors provide a good indication that there is a high level of trust:

• Employees present ideas in meetings that are risky or out of the ordinary.
• If a project fails, the responsible person is able to speak about it publicly and discuss the reasons. Learnings are reflected upon.
• Team members contradict their managers and criticize them constructively.
• Employees voluntarily sacrifice time and resources to help other team members.
• There are volunteers for new and unfamiliar tasks.
• It is well-accepted to show emotions and admit weaknesses in difficult situations or under stress
• Employees dare to raise concerns about difficult issues such as unconscious bias, discrimination or bullying.

Usually, however, employees are less open. Studies show that more than half of those who encounter bullying, discrimination or harassment remain silent when they experience discrimination in the workplace.

Why do so many cases go unreported?

Generally, there are two dimensions that play a role in whether people take the risk of talking about inappropriate behavior at work: the personality of the individual and situational environmental influences. Introverted or shy personalities are naturally less willing to address problems openly. At the same time, the fear of sanctions or “social costs” can exert a lot of pressure on extroverted people.

However, studies show that strong norms and expectations influence personality characteristics. When employees fear that reporting will have negative consequences, even extroverted employees with a high willingness to take risks often avoid reporting grievances.

Also, team members generally express themselves more frequently when they feel they are expected to do so. As soon as a company clearly communicates that it supports a speak-up culture, all personality types address difficult topics more frequently. This illustrates that the dimension of situational environmental influences is far more important than the personality type of the individual employee.

Building a speak-up culture as a company doesn’t happen from one day to the next. It takes time and concrete measures at the organizational and management level. In exchange, companies are rewarded with committed employees who are more likely to stay and perform better in teams.

In the second part of this article on speak-up culture, I will use the “APE model” to explain which three environmental factors can be altered by companies in order to signal psychological safety to their employees, and thereby build a sustainable culture of trust.