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Silence Isn’t Golden: The Hidden Trap of Leaders Who Leave People Behind
How one simple ritual — Finish Fridays — helped me turn awkward quiet into a chorus of recognition
The silence caught me off guard.
I was in a virtual meeting, staring at a screen full of faces. I had just announced a change in the organization. And I asked the team for their concerns. No one said a word. No one offered comments. Just silence.
On the surface, it seemed that everyone was okay with it. But they weren’t. Later, in one-on-one conversations, people had plenty to say — concerns, frustrations, even good ideas they hadn’t shared with the group.
That’s when I realized something important: silence doesn’t always mean peace. Sometimes, silence means morale is slipping away.
I had to face the truth: my team wasn’t silent because they had nothing to say — they were censoring themselves in the group space.
And the deeper I looked, the clearer it became: the silence wasn’t only about group dynamics. It was also about change. When change hit my team, it felt like an attack on their autonomy. Decisions were being made around them, and that loss of control made people retreat into quiet.
