Here is a fantastic article that was recently published in Chief Learning Officer Magazine by Rob Bogosian titled, “The Perfect Deadly Storm: Corporate Silence. He starts the article discussing the recent Lufthansa mass-murder suicide and how the organization’s culture contributed to the disaster. He then walks through various other business corporations outside of aviation that suffered losses due to mis-communication from leadership that directly impacts the organization culture. Resulting in a culture of silence.
In the article he asks these 4 questions to determine if your leaders within your organization may be operating in a culture of silence. The questions are…;
How many times in the past three months have leaders in your organization:
- Experience the “bovine stare”, or a blank look, when they ask for input from the team?
- Had someone on the team disagree with them in a group setting?
- Had someone suggest an idea or problem solution that was very different from them or from the common views expressed by group members?
- Said to a direct report, “Let me play devil’s advocate” or something similar?
Jcultureust curious to see how many of you out there feel that your organization is one of a “culture of silence” or one that promotes open communication. There are ten critical statements that are very valuable to use to help determine, identify, and rate your organizations culture. They are provided in this survey below.
Please help by taking this anonymous quick 10 questiononline survey that rates the 10 critical statements to see if your organization’s culture is one of silence or one of openness. Feel free to use these critical statements from my survey in your organization.
I will share the results with everyone on a future blog post. I’m curious to see the results. I want the results to be authentic so I need your help in taking a few short minutes to complete the survey. Thank you!
Question: What do you think leaders should do to make a culture that promotes active engagement and openness that will prevent a culture of silence? Share your comment below.