The Power To Foster Speak-Up Culture For Longterm Payoffs
Maria D’Avanzo, Chief Evangelist Officer, Traliant.
By Maria D’Avanzo
As a former chief ethics and compliance officer, I know firsthand the importance of creating a speak-up culture. Companies that value and encourage employees to express their fears, provide feedback, ask questions, report issues and concerns, and make suggestions without fear of retaliation are better able to identify troubling hotspots, reducing the financial and reputational risks to the organization. Such companies also benefit because their employees are usually more engaged, have trust in leadership and tend to stay around.
Many times, employees report concerns believing in the system only to learn that the commitment to investigate is moderated by an unwillingness to challenge leadership. In these situations, a "don’t-rock-the- boat culture” outweighs any effort to address what could be a significant problem.
The recent federal law banning forced arbitration, known as the #MeToo bill, is a positive step in removing a barrier for targets of harassment and other toxic workplace behaviors to speak out. Another is heightened focus on bystander intervention training. Training employees to use different techniques to intervene and interrupt incidents enables individuals to support their co-workers who are targets and help prevent future incidents.
Among the findings in a new report from Traliant, How Employees Are Shaping the New World of Work, 59.1% of survey respondents said they feel uncomfortable filing a workplace misconduct complaint out of concerns it won’t be confidential. Almost 40% of respondents said they were reluctant to file a report because of favoritism in the workplace, while 35% are worried they'll lose their job.
Fostering a psychologically safe work environment that supports everyone speaking up without fear of being punished is one of the pillars of a speak-up culture. It can also improve teamwork and performance, prevent burnout and build trust — all of which can have long-term benefits to an organization.
““Companies that value and encourage employees to express their fears, provide feedback, ask questions, report issues and concerns, and make suggestions without fear of retaliation are better able to identify troubling hotspots.” —Maria D’Avanzo #PowerToChangeStories”
Maria D’Avanzo is Chief Evangelist Officer at Traliant in New York City. https://www.linkedin.com/company/traliant ; www.traliant.com/