Within almost every organisation there are mechanisms via which employees are encouraged to share feedback. They may take the form of engagement surveys, ‘open door’ policies, appraisals and even whistleblowing processes. Where these are embedded into organisational procedures, often the assumption is that if no one comes forward with a concern, this means there are no problems.
Really?
There’s a swathe of research that examines this territory, often referred to as ‘undiscussables’ or the ‘shadow side’. Despite efforts to explore the hidden facets of organisations, and the underlying psychology, the collective business community seems to be no closer to finding a solution. In fact, organisations are often not even discussing this as an issue, making undiscussables in and of themselves, well, undiscussable.
“The assumption is that if no one comes forward with a concern, this means there are no problems”
The sound of silence
Part of the challenge is that there is no simple or easy solution to something that is inherent in social processes. There are many potential reasons people choose not to name what is unspoken, taboo or hidden, so perhaps it is unsurprising that those who swim against the tide and bring up these uncomfortable truths are in the minority.
Culturally, particularly in the UK, notions of politeness are embedded: the candour with which small children speak to others is often met with embarrassment and apologies from caregivers, meaning by the time we enter the workplace many of us equate direct honesty with rudeness and negative repercussions. As academic Chris Argyris put it in his Making the Undiscussable and Its Undiscussability Discussable article, we are taught to respond to threatening issues by ‘being civilised’ or ‘appropriately covering’.
And what happens if we do speak up? Even though whistleblowers are theoretically protected by employment laws, much of the evidence suggests those who speak up about serious issues are castigated or overlooked for promotion at best, expelled or litigated against at worst.
Self-doubt
So, fear of repercussions and societal expectations of ‘niceness’ perpetuate patterns where individuals don’t speak up. Added to this, we are not only taught to show reverence to those in authority, but where systemic or leadership issues do exist, teams often have to report the problem to the very same person or people who have caused it in the first place.
Once issues of poor leadership or practices have been swept under the rug, it becomes exponentially more difficult for anyone to be the one to lift up the corner of the organisational rug and uncover the grime underneath. If no one, even those more senior than us, is talking about an issue, then it not only creates the question of ‘why me’ when people ponder whether to raise it, but it can also give rise to self doubt. Perhaps the reason it’s not being discussed is because no one else finds it problematic. Then we begin to see that not only are these topics never brought up with leadership, they’re not even discussed in the canteen or in messages between colleagues.
“Fear of repercussions and societal expectations of ‘niceness’ perpetuate patterns where individuals don’t speak”
A problem solved?
Far from being alleviated, research into undiscussables seems to have done little to cure the problem. It could even be argued that today’s working practices make it easier for these topics to stay hidden. The rise of hybrid and remote working means we interact far less often in person, limiting the chances of individuals to raise concerns during face-to-face conversations. Virtual working requires us to be even more direct with each other for clarity than when we are face to face, and the opposite largely happens, making things worse.
Many organisational structures have been flattened, eradicating middle managers who tend to act as communication channels between employees and leaders. At the same time, technology has shifted, mean the traditional nine to five has all but disappeared. The expectation of being busy, responsive and prepared to go the extra mile does not sit well with the thought of raising an uncomfortable truth about working practices or leadership behaviours.
The fear of losing a job is greater than ever given the difficult market conditions, and we are now not only mindful of how many humans are ready to replace us, but we are also being fed the rhetoric that AI technology could step in and do our job just as effectively.
“The rise of hybrid and remote working means we interact far less often in person, limiting the chances of individuals to raise concerns during face-to-face conversations”
Is there a solution?
This is not about solutions in a sense – it is about learning how to recognise the pattern, how we are co-creating it, and how we might disrupt it. We cannot expect to walk into a workplace on a Monday and begin talking about the issues that have been under wraps for ages. This is not a concern unique to our generation, either, and it infiltrates family systems as much as workplaces. This, in part, explains why these patterns are pervasive: we bring what we learn at home to work when it comes to how we relate to others, both consciously and unconsciously. Wider patterns in society in terms of how we deal with differences of opinion and increasingly confrontational approaches to others hardly help when what is needed here is nuance, not brute force.
This isn’t about sending out more mandatory staff surveys or booking in more catch-up meetings. It requires a fundamental shift in the way we operate as individuals, as leaders and as organisations. There is no easy fix, because it’s both systemic and societal; we must create psychological safety – the conditions to take relational risks – and examine the part we play in silencing ourselves and others. Ultimately, we need to be prepared for what we might see when we lift up the rug, because it may be challenging and confronting – as they say, the truth hurts. Or it could be a fluffy bunny or cute kitten, because sometimes what we fear is imagined, not real. But we will never find out for sure unless we move towards dialogue rather than away from it.
Steve Hearsum is the founder of Edge + Stretch.
