It’s Always the Quiet Ones!

I read this somewhere, so I am not claiming it as mine.

“It’s always the quiet ones who secretly make the most noise.”

Do not assume that all is well with the world because employees are quiet. The opposite could be your reality.

“Silence is the Loudest Scream” is a quote from Eastern philosophy. My interpretation is that when people choose not to speak up or respond, they convey a stronger message or express intense emotions, far more effectively than words.

In other words, silence in your organisation is likely a sign of your pending demise.

If you don’t listen to your employees, you will have no idea how they are feeling or behaving.

It’s akin to travelling in an aircraft at 36,000 feet above sea level and suddenly noticing the silence. There is no engine noise, aerodynamic noise, or airflow noise. Do you assume all is okay due to the silence, or does it tell you that this is the calm before the storm, as the aircraft has experienced engine failure and is plummeting to the ground at 12,000 feet per minute?

You have just three minutes to act and try to save yourself at that rate of decline. If you do not notice the silence within your organisation, you probably have a proportionate amount of time to save it.

This newsletter explores why silence is rarely golden in organisations and what you can do before it’s too late.

The silence of high performers

Your high performers do not leave suddenly. They go quiet first and disengage long before they hand in their notice.  You may expect them to speak up when they are not satisfied with their jobs, but in many cases, they will not. They have been your best performers, and they do not want to be seen in a negative light. As high performers, they might not be comfortable discussing stress, fatigue, or burnout.

They don’t often complain and will keep on delivering for some time. But their energy shifts, and they stop asking questions and volunteering to take on work. They become less interested in what is going on around them. They go quiet.

If you don’t notice, you cannot act, and the resignation letter will arrive in your inbox. You will be blindsided. The chance of changing the high performer’s decision is minimal. This has been brewing for some time as the high performers continue to deliver until they can no longer. This was not a decision made overnight.

High performers' attrition is often referred to as quiet quitting. When trust and motivation are lost, they stay physically but withdraw discretionary effort. They leave quietly when their needs are not met.

High performers want to feel valuable and valued. They want opportunities for growth and development beyond their current role. They must feel trusted and know that their contribution is making a difference. They want their voice to be heard and regarded.

Action

As a leader, you must check in with your high performers regularly, just as you should with all your employees. Growth and development should be a key topic of discussion. Find out what frustrates them and what energises them. Open doors to new opportunities for them. Ensure they know they are valued. Recognise their contribution and effort.

When you notice once-energised high performers go quiet, it is a signal, and you should discuss it. Ask them how they are feeling. Listen with genuine empathy and take action to address what has been discussed.

The danger of ignoring frontline voices

The other silent voices can be those of frontline employees. Those nearest to the consumer, customer, or constituent. They hear warning signs first yet they may not share them because they have been ignored previously. They may fear reprimand or reprisal for speaking up and being labelled negative.

Frontline employees can tell you when there is customer dissatisfaction, failures in processes, safety risks, and opportunities to be seized before the competition does.

The hierarchy can stifle voices that should be heard. Many frontline employees never get access to senior leadership. Their messages get passed through layers of management, filtered and massaged until they lose all accuracy and sense of urgency.

Frontline employees may fear being seen as troublemakers or not team players. No one may have ever asked their opinion or perspective, so they don’t believe that their voice has any value. The culture may reinforce that the frontline employee’s job is to do, not to challenge or ask questions.

Action

You must not assume that no news is good news. You need to know what your front-line employees hear, see, and feel. They are your early warning system.

You must intentionally bypass the hierarchy. Invite senior managers to team meetings and to go to the frontline and talk with employees. You and they must ask questions and assure the employees that you want to hear their perspectives and that they are safe to do so.

Ask them what they are seeing that you are not. What are they hearing that you are not?

Recognise those who speak up publicly, providing positive reinforcement that this behavior is highly regarded. This will encourage others to do the same.

Psychological safety – a solution to silence

If people do not feel safe speaking up, they will remain silent. Psychological safety must exist in the workplace.

The term ‘psychological safety’ was first coined by Amy C. Edmondson in her 1999 research study of workplace teams. Edmondson is a Harvard Business School professor and defines psychological safety as:

“Psychological safety is a belief that one will not be punished or humiliated for speaking up with ideas, questions, concerns, or mistakes."

Her research in the 1990s across numerous US hospitals sought to find out if better teams make fewer mistakes. What she discovered was just the opposite of what she had expected. The most cohesive hospital teams seemingly made the most mistakes, not fewer.

Further investigation revealed that the better teams weren’t making more mistakes. They were more able and willing to talk about their mistakes. This became Edmondson’ influential 1999 paper, titled “Psychological Safety and Learning Behavior in Work Teams.”

Since then, her research has continued, showing that psychological safety can improve the performance of not just teams but entire organisations.

When team members sense psychological safety, they will speak out, share ideas, take risks, and be innovative and creative. They do this knowing that they will not be ridiculed in the process. They know that their contribution to a discussion is valued.

They can speak up, question and challenge, present new thoughts and ideas, without adverse repercussions.

This is needed if organisations are to be creative, experiment, and innovate to stay ahead of the competition. 

Action

How do you create an environment of psychological safety?

I wrote an article some years ago outlining how to do that. I will précis it here.

Lead by example.

You need to set an example for employees. This means asking for upward feedback, acknowledging your mistakes, being open to opinions different from your own, being available and approachable, and encouraging people to ask questions and challenge assumptions.

If you don't admit your mistakes, no one in a room where everyone is considered perfect will speak up. When you admit you made a mistake, you encourage others to do the same.

Courage

Be vulnerable. Admit it if you don’t know something, and ask others for their input. Share your feelings with your team and tell them when you feel frustrated or stressed, motivated or inspired. When you do this, others will do the same.

Safety

As a leader, you need to create safety. This means you need to exhibit these behaviours and guide your team to do the same. When these behaviours are not exhibited, they must be called out and challenged.

Show respect, keep an open mind, and accept all ideas. There is no judgment, and everyone has a voice.

Trust

Leaders must establish and keep trust. There will be no psychological safety without it.

Trust is established when you hold yourself accountable and do what you said you would do. People see you as competent and dependable.

The team must see their leader as their ally. Treat them with compassion and respect. Practice empathy. Don't judge them when things go wrong. Work with them to learn from the opportunity the failure presents. You must have emotional intelligence.

You must invite, reward, and act on honest input to prevent silence from taking root.

Listening as a leadership competency

A few years ago, I wrote a newsletter called “Just Ask.” It explored why leaders often do not ask and how to overcome those challenges. It included the following advice.

Right questions

It is important to ask the right questions to get the desired outcomes. Ask questions that get to the point. Make them concise and descriptive. When you ask a good question, the recipient will likely understand what you mean. You want to avoid confusion.

You want your questions to return valuable insights, which could be a problem or an opportunity. Questions should encourage conversation. You are not looking for yes/no answers. Those answers provide you with no useful information.”

Purpose

When you are asking questions of your team, ensure that there is a shared purpose. The team should know the reason for the questions. Is it for you to improve your leadership? Is it for team building? Is it to solve a problem? Is it to take advantage of an opportunity?

Without a sense of purpose, the questions are like vapour and have no substance.

Listening

Your employees know when you are not listening. This just tells them that you are not interested in what they have to say, and then that happens, they will stop sharing.

You must practice active listening. Active listening means being present, hearing what people are saying, validating your understanding by repeating what was said, encouraging people to share more by asking them questions, and encouraging those not participating to speak up and be involved.

Active listening means avoiding distractions and watching for verbal and physical cues about how the other person is feeling. Leaders need to be able to recognise facial expressions.

Take action

If you don’t act, employees will stop giving you answers. It is like being asked to provide feedback on a product or service and never hearing anything. The chances are you will not provide feedback again.

You must demonstrate that you have taken on board what you have heard and acted accordingly.

When employees see you acting on their feedback, they know you have listened to and accepted their input. This will encourage them to give more feedback.

What you can do today

Stop assuming silence means contentment. Look for the signals. Dig deep. Who has gone quiet? What isn’t being said? Where has energy been dissipated? Don’t block frontline insights.

Create an environment of psychological safety by modelling vulnerability, actively listening, asking the right questions, and thanking people for their honesty and contribution.

Conclusion

Silence isn’t safe – it's a foreboding signal. Your call to action is to ask yourself, “Am I listening?”

I can help you communicate and listen effectively and avoid the pending disaster.