‘Speak-up’ culture at work

I recently featured in Stylist Magazine on “speak-up culture”.  Silence at work is rarely accidental. It is often learned. Not because people don’t care, but because they’re paying attention. If speaking up leads nowhere, if challenge is tolerated but not really welcomed, if nothing visibly changes then silence becomes the most intelligent response.

This is where I think we need to move the conversation on.  Psychological safety matters but it is only the starting point. People don’t just need to feel able to speak; they need to believe it’s worth it. That their voice will land, be taken seriously, and shape what happens next.

When I look through my lens of organisational personality, the patterns are familiar. Those that invite input but reward compliance, teams that prioritise harmony over honesty, middle layers holding the tension without the authority to resolve it, and systems where people have spoken up before and nothing changed.  This isn’t a people problem. It’s a system signal.

In complex environments, the gap between what is said and what is real is where risk exists. So, the real work is not encouraging people to speak up. It is also addressing what happens when they do.  If you’re noticing quieter meetings, more filtered conversations, or a sense the real issues sit just out of reach it is worth paying attention.

These are early indicators of how your system is functioning and an indication of the work to be done. If you are interested in the personality of organisations, teams, and leaders and the human relationships that create them, get in touch.

You can read the article in Stylist Magazine here: How to create a speak-up culture at work