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Break the silence…!

Posted on by AMIconsultancy
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What is it exactly that keeps us from speaking up to leadership? If something isn’t or doesn’t feel  right. When we have ideas and suggestions.  Why do we so often choose ‘silence over voice’ ?

In a string of studies (*) after this ‘organizational silence’, James Detert and Amy Edmondson show that the explanation goes well beyond the behavior of the leader  - for instance a punitive style- or contextual factors, such as the opportunity to meet for a talk. Much more important is our belief in our own little self-manufactured ‘theories’ about the imagined ‘dangers’ of speaking up.   Examples of such ‘implicit voice theories’ we may hold, are:  “speaking up to suggest a process improvement is likely to offend the person in charge of it”. Or: ”Presenting underdeveloped ideas to your group is never a good idea”. Detert and Edmondson were surprised to find that their study subjects hardly ever had clear experiences to back their theories up! They ‘just’ believed in them. And they were consequential, because these strong convictions were much more likely to ‘shut them up’ than actual, direct, negative experiences or circumstances. It’s all inside our heads…

You may want to think twice next time you want to speak truth to power. Ask yourself: have I really seen or experienced  ‘dangerous’ reactions by my boss on earlier occasions? How sure am I? Or am I perhaps unwittingly following some personal (pet) theory – an assumption? And if you do: why not put your theory to the test? Break that silence…if you dare!!

(WvO)

(*) Detert, James R. and Edmondson, Amy C. (2011), Implicit voice theories: taken-for-granted rules of self-censorship at work, Academy of Management Journal, vol. 54, no.3, 461-488.

Change hurts

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Any real, significant change involves an element of pain. Re-adjustment to a new situation, be it a new role, function or organization, requires a delicate process of letting go of the ‘old’ before the ‘new’ can be admitted, explored and embraced.

This process has even been likened  to the typical phases of grief, as described in the famous model of Elisabeth Kubler-Ross:   shock – denial – bargaining- anger- depression –acceptance. Others have developed real organizational models of phases of negative and positive (!) emotions in coping with change  (see Liu and Perrewé, 2005).

To allow the emotional transition to happen, a safe place has to be created where people can let off steam, freely express their excitements and doubts and start to make sense of what is going on. In a recent issue of the Dutch HR periodical Personeelsbeleid , dr. Omar Solinger of the Free University of Amsterdam reflects on these matters in the context of his study into employee role-transitions at the Dutch airliner KLM. He later extended his thoughts in a PhD research where he showed that people actually differ in the way they adjust to a new working context.

Rather than a single, typical pattern, Solinger revealed a set of 5 different paths people tend to follow. Some ‘fit in’ immediately and remain happy, whereas others feel disappointed after an initial ‘high’. Still others gradually ‘warm up’ or never do.

Change hurts: but more so for some than for others. What’s your typical adjustment pattern…?

(WvO)

Liu, Y and Perrewé, P. (2005), Another look at the role of emotion in the organizational change: a process model, Human Resource Management Review, 15: 263 – 280.

Leaders of the pack

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Interesting research by Stéphane Côté, a professor at the University of Toronto’s Rotman School of Management and one of four researchers involved with the study. In non-hierarchical and informal groups, people who are perceived by others as professionals with a high amount of emotional intelligence, are considered to be the best leaders.

Stéphane Côté: “Traditionally we’ve had the assumption that leaders have high IQ, are gregarious individuals, or happen to be dominant personalities. But this shows it’s not just about these traditional factors. It’s also about being able to process other people’s emotions. Anybody who wants to pursue a position of leadership and power can benefit from these abilities.”

Interesting other fact: a positive self evaluation of how emotionally intelligent you think you are, is a bad indicator…Self assessment is deceiving!

How do you see yourself? And are you willing to get feedback from others with regard to your own leadership style? (RM)

University of Toronto, Rotman School of Management (2010, September 21). Leaders of the pack display high ‘emotional intelligence’. ScienceDaily. Retrieved September 22, 2011, from http://www.sciencedaily.com­ /releases/2010/09/100921101509.htm