In my recent article “No, don’t do anything”, I shared with you my concern that colleagues very rarely authorise me to intervene, outside our discussion, to help them solve the issue they are confronted with. 

They explain that their reluctance comes from the fear of negative consequences for their career and/or their professional relationships. They also express a feeling of pointlessness, i.e. that speaking up about a concern will not help. 

Although the notion of a psychologically safe environment applies primarily to team collaboration, I see a clear link with the reluctance to speak up on interpersonal issues. 

An ideally psychologically safe environment is an environment in which people believe that no one will be punished, excluded or humiliated for disagreeing with others, asking questions, proposing ideas, raising concerns or admitting mistakes* .

When Michel**, in a team, section or group, considers speaking up about a concern, a calculation takes place in his brain – partly unconsciously – before he decides whether to speak or to remain silent. He asks himself: who will benefit from me speaking up, when will they benefit and what is the likelihood that this benefit will actually materialise? 

The responses are immediate and can be summarised in the voice/silence calculator below: 

In other words, Michel quickly concludes that remaining silent will most probably benefit himself now, whereas raising a concern might possibly benefit the Organization in the mid to long term. Very often, Michel will choose to remain silent. 

Still, teams with silent members are less likely to innovate and improve over time. In addition, remaining silent creates frustration, which will surface one way or the other. 

The same voice/silence calculation takes place when I suggest to my visitors that I take some action, such as contacting the other party, organising a mediation, etc. They rarely accept. As the saying goes, “No one has ever been fired for remaining silent”.

If you are interested in finding out more about how psychological safety benefits everyone in an organisation, you may wish to revisit the excellent webinar given by Camilo Azcarate, Ombud for ESO, at https://indico.cern.ch/event/1164651/.

We need to actively balance the voice/silence calculation and give more weight to voicing concerns. Concerns raised in an honest, respectful and constructive way, and in the appropriate circle, should have a higher probability of being addressed rapidly, to the benefit of everyone: members of personnel and the Organization alike.

Laure Esteveny

* The Fearless Organization, Amy C. Edmondson, 2019

** Name is fictitious

I want to hear from you – feel free to email ombud@cern.ch with any feedback or suggestions for topics you’d like me to address. 

NB: If you would like to be notified about posts, news and other communications from the CERN Ombud, please subscribe to receive the CERN Ombud news.