We are surrounded by noise most of the time, organisationally often the most attention is given to those who shout the loudest.
In society too we are bombarded through social media, advertising, traffic noise and other daily interruptions. But we want to champion the quiet voices, the people who often don’t get heard, yet have so much wisdom if people took the time to invite their opinion. It is by really listening and paying attention to the more thoughtful, more considered responsive people that we gain the most insight.
If you read other parts of this website, or our books you will often hear a reference to respect, empathy and genuineness which to us is a key touchstone in any interaction. Not everyone wants to contribute to conversations and this must be respected, but others would respond if they felt it was a supportive environment.
Within an organisation, particularly when supporting people development, 1-1 genuine and honest conversations have a particular significance.These conversations have even more value if they become part of day-to-day life, for example when coaching, sharing information or just checking in and seeing how people are doing.
With condensed hours and hybrid working people may feel more isolated and miss out on the daily conversations that used to happen naturally within the workplace.
Traditionally many people learned from others, working alongside an experienced worker and conversations happened naturally not just about the task, but often about life in general. People would socialise together and develop an understanding of the whole person.
There were of course some difficulties with this, but in today’s working environment some of the benefits of this have been lost.
Which is why when conversations do happen they need to be based on a genuine interest.
Training can illustrate how to ask open-ended questions, or how to develop listening skills, but nothing can replace a genuine interest in others. Fundamentally it is about respect. We are all so familiar with people endlessly scrolling on their phones, half-hearted conversations, or meetings that are so long that even the most engaged people lose interest.
It is also so important to remember the detail in the conversations particularly as leaders, this is one of the best examples that people cite about their respect for others which is when a leader recalls important information they have shared; often contrasting this with complaints about leaders, or managers who are abrupt, or patently not really interested.
In our research over many years a common complaint from employees has often been,
“They (the management) often ask for our opinion, but when we take time to give it, it often isn’t acknowledged, or they do want they want anyway”
Working collaboratively and actively engaging in conversations is such an important part of how both the employees and the organisation grows and develops.
Another common frustration from employees is a feeling of a lack of recognition from others of the greater contribution that someone can make.
Having ambition is important, but we should also support the quieter, more empathetic value driven leaders who in turn can create the environment where individual employees are respected and nurtured.
We regularly hear stories of how even in the earliest years parents, or teachers appear to crush ambition with comments such as, ‘’ You’ll never be any good at that” which often serves to create two results; either lighting a fire to prove them wrong, or sadly killing not just that ambition, but the young person’s general self-confidence in themselves.
What is also interesting is that even in organisations who believe to be value driven and inclusive an individual manager can act as a barrier to another employee’s progress.
Organisations can also be reluctant to allow people to move above a particular pay grade or role responsibility. For creative, self-motivated individuals this can create so much frustration, often frontline employees are full of ideas about how something could be improved, or have valuable feedback on day to day operations, but often there are gatekeepers above them who stop this valuable information reaching the decision makers.
But there is so much potential that can be fostered and encouraged in every organisation. It is never too late to change direction, it may take time to build trust, but much can be improved by seriously examining channels of communication, developing flatter organisations, and encouraging our leaders to sponsor the most inclusive managers so that those with the quietest voices are not only heard but have a real impact on how an organisation develops.
This is part of our ‘Gentle Guide to Success’ an alternative approach to personal and organisation development.
We are always interested in helping organisations and individuals in developing more inclusive and engaging conversations contact us here:https://inspiringengagement.co.uk/contact
You may also be interested in another journal entry Reaching Out – How to create engaging conversations:
https://inspiringengagement.co.uk/reaching-out-how-to-create-engaging-communications