A few weeks ago, a friend told me he was thinking about quitting his job.
He said it was because of communication breakdowns between him and his boss. Small moments of poor communication had snowballed into a deeper, gnawing frustration for my friend.
I asked if he’d mentioned these moments to his boss. Maybe his boss had no idea these were problems in the first place.
My friend acknowledged that this was most-likely true. But then he said this:
“Even if I did speak up, I don’t think anything would change.”
His words struck me. I had almost forgotten – I had felt the exact same way a few years ago.
Before I was CEO of Know Your Company, I was an employee at another company. Just like my friend, I was unhappy at work. But just like my friend, I didn’t tell my boss about it.
Why? Part of it was due to personality. I’m an introvert. I didn’t want to come across as a “know-it-all” to my boss. Another part of it was fear. I was worried that my boss would interpret my feedback as a personal attack.
But those weren’t the biggest reasons holding me back.
The biggest reason I didn’t give my boss feedback is I believed that even if I did speak up, nothing would change. I believed my boss wouldn’t do anything with my feedback. No action would be taken. And if nothing was going to change, what was the point of me saying anything?
My friend had felt the exact same way. This sense of futility is why we both didn’t speak up. We’re not the only ones to have felt like this.
Futility has been found to be 1.8 times more common than fear as a reason for employees not speaking up to their managers. According to a 2009 Cornell National Social Survey, more employees reported withholding their ideas due to a sense of futility (26%) than a fear of personal consequences (20%).
In other words, it’s not that we’re merely scared of giving feedback. It’s that we don’t think anything will come of the feedback when we voice it. Futility, more than fear, is why employees choose not to speak up to their bosses.
So how do you help your employees overcome this sense of futility?
If you’re a manager, business owner, or CEO, the most important thing you can do is act on the feedback your employees give you. After all, that’s why an employee is giving you feedback in the first place – they simply want action to be taken.
Now I’m not saying that you should blindly appease every request that an employee makes. But you have to start somewhere. If you want an open, transparent work environment, you can’t just talk about being open and transparent. You have to act in an open and transparent way.
Here are three small ways you can encourage your employees to speak up…
(1) Recognize the messenger. How do treat the people in your company who do choose to speak up? Amanda Lannert, the CEO of Jellyvision and a Know Your Company customer, told me that during an all-hands meeting, she publicly thanked an employee who spoke up and gave feedback. Even though she didn’t agree with the employee’s feedback, she wanted him to know his voice was heard and his feedback was not in vain.
(2) Explain why you’re not doing something. If you receive a piece of feedback that isn’t practical or doesn’t align with the company’s direction, tell your employees that. Expose your decision-making process. If you don’t, employees will wonder, “What ever happened to that idea I suggested?” They’ll assume that you’re not open to receiving new ideas, and they’ll hesitate to bring up feedback the next time around.
(3) Act on something small. Acting on feedback – no matter how small – is the most powerful way to encourage employees to speak up and to create a more positive company culture. For example, Dave Bellous, the co-CEO of Yellow Pencil, learned through Know Your Company that his company needed a new phone service. So he promptly changed their phone service, and saw an immediate shift in his team’s morale. This one unassuming change yielded huge results. All because he acted on something small quickly.
At the end of the day, acting on feedback is how we encourage our employees to give feedback more openly. If we focus on what we do more than what we say, more employees will see that speaking up is not futile.
When I think back to a few years ago when I was an unhappy employee, this action was all I needed to feel comfortable speaking up. And for my friend thinking about quitting his job, that’s all he needs too.
Zach Johnston
on 15 Jul 14I’m not sure how Know Your Company works, but does part of the problem your solving revolve around employees not taking the first step?
The advice your giving here is more about how to prevent employees from being afraid of speaking up, but for many, the fear has already set in and there needs to be active effort by the boss to solicit feedback.
Claire Lew
on 15 Jul 14Hey Zach – you’re absolutely correct. A big part of how you can overcome that sense of futility I described is if the boss actively solicits feedback. Asking specific, timely questions is key. That’s where Know Your Company comes in :)
A developer
on 15 Jul 14Sometimes it’s not just imagined futility, it literally is futile. A current client of mine does contract work for the government, and the nature of the contract means my client can just sit on, and maintain a decades-old product.
The CEO has made it clear that he’s in charge and refuses to assign any leadership roles, so we either wind up with everyone making their own decisions, or no one making any.
They tried to form two actual teams, but they each got to make decisions so we wound up with Team 1 and Team A. We have task priorities of Normal, High, and High High, and while everyone moans and complains (and even quits) over the outdated technologies, there’s no pressure from their client to change anything.
The supported target browser is IE7 on XP, the application is horribly designed, slow as molasses, and a nightmare to have to work on and support.
Complaining doesn’t matter because it’s either “tolerate it” or “leave”.
Brian Anderson
on 15 Jul 14Zach, “employees not taking the first step” seems to be a symptom of a team that has wonky communication. Maybe from past experiences, or some random-misunderstanding that defined a sense of futility. A great way to start getting that feedback is to ask questions and interact with an idea in an honest way. Even if it means to be vulnerable at times.
I’ve worked for many different people. And I’ve always enjoyed managers/bosses who aren’t afraid to say “that is a good question” or “I am not sure let me get back to you” or “I don’t know, what do you think we should do about __?” In these cases I always feel like my input is welcome and my opinions are valued. I actually care less if they do whatever it is I am asking, it was enough to know they heard me. It also forms a relationship where I know it is safe (or maybe even where I am expected) to bring up concerns and ideas I have.
I think all people have the capacity to engage their coworkers, teammates, or employees in this manner. Some don’t have to apply much effort to accomplish this, because it comes natural. Others have to learn and work diligently to communicate in a way that demonstrates they welcome other’s comments.
Thank you Claire, this article is really fantastic.
Derrick
on 16 Jul 14@Claire
I’m confused.
Are you an employee of Basecamp or did you acquire KYC and are a seperate entity?
If the later, why are you posting on this blog?
Claire Lew
on 16 Jul 14@Brian – Glad the piece resonated with you. Couldn’t agree more that saying something as simple as “I am not sure let me get back to you” can show an employee that you’re really listening.
@Derrick – I’m not an employee of Basecamp. This article is a guest post. I’m the CEO of Know Your Company, which was spun-out as a separate company from Basecamp. You can read the details here.
a
on 16 Jul 14Anyone who missed, it is not about speaking up, it is advertisement for a company trying to sell stuff you absolutely do not need.
brian piercy
on 16 Jul 14I’ve been fantasizing about sending this mail to every VP in my company. I haven’t – for exactly the reasons Claire has outlined. So damned frustrating.
E
on 16 Jul 14I agree with @Adeveloper and Claire Lew. To Claire’s point, if you’ve never spoken up to your boss or company, you need to do so in order to make progress.
However, to @Adeveloper’s point, once you speak up, you realize very quickly that your efforts are futile. From my experience working at a legacy technology company who doesn’t embrace forward thinking. Once you speak up and raise concerns through constructive feedback, the very people who you trust with that information are the very people who haven’t been doing their jobs and the reason why you are forced to speak up. If you watch Game of Thrones, incompetent people in power will do everything to keep that power.
My suggestion is speak up early if your company actually wants feedback and will use it to make the company better. If your in my situation, be very careful to who and what you say.
Travis
on 16 Jul 14@Claire
So is Know Your Company a wholly owned subsidiary of Basecamp?
Or did you (or someone else) acquire Know Your Company … and Basecamp (the company) has no ties to it?
Travis
on 16 Jul 14@Claire
Also, it seems quite stuffy to say you’re the “CEO” of a company that has < 10 employees.
Maybe that’s just me.
Something like “co-founder” sound much better.
Claire Lew
on 16 Jul 14@Travis
Basecamp and I co-own Know Your Company together.
The “CEO” title is simply the best description of the work I do, whether that’s “stuffy” or not. I didn’t co-found Know Your Company, so “Co-founder” doesn’t make sense. Either way, titles don’t matter – just the work you do.
Travis
on 16 Jul 14Maybe the following title then:
Claire Lew Owner Know Your Company
Real Futility
on 17 Jul 14I’m a developer at an ad agency. There are five of us on the dev team. Four of us are smart, hard-working and good at our jobs. One isn’t, never was and never will be. We went to our boss as a group, outlined everything we saw and essentially demanded action be taken. Even though we did speak up, nothing changed.
Anonymous Coward
on 18 Jul 14CEO is an affectation in a privately held company, which is what KYC is.
Anonymous Coward
on 18 Jul 14It’s still impressive though and shouldn’t necessarily detract from what Claire, under her own name, is trying to say.
Martin
on 21 Jul 14Great article and superb idea for a consulting service, which taps the pulse of the highly competitive situation of the faster and faster moving world we are into! I’m looking forwards to your next posts! Thank you!
This discussion is closed.