Freedom to Speak Up: listen up!

October is national Speak Up Month. It’s a chance for us all to reflect on the importance of speaking up and the value it brings to our organisation.
Freedom to Speak Up: breaking down barriers

NHS national guardian Dr Jayne Chidgey-Clark explains why breaking barriers is the key focus for Speak Up Month 2023.
Building a Culture Where Employees Feel Free to Speak Up

When employees at every level speak up, they circulate local knowledge, expand the universe of useful ideas, and prevent collective tunnel vision. And not infrequently, minority views turn into novel solutions. But you can’t speak a speak-up culture into existence — doing so in the absence of true psychological safety is an abdication of leadership and an admission of failure. The author presents four steps leaders can take to create conditions that give all employees a voice — and motivate them to use it: 1) Separate worth from worthiness; 2) separate loyalty from agreement; 3) separate status from opinion; and 4) separate permission from adoption.