Speaker 1: Helping leaders motivate their people to a higher level of
Speaker 1: performance through strong human relations, team building, and golajieving. This
Speaker 1: is the seven Minute Leadership Podcast with your host Paul Fellavaledo.
Speaker 2: Hello everyone, and welcome to the seven Minute Leadership Podcast.
Speaker 2: It's episode seven to seventy one. There is a moment
Speaker 2: in every organization that should scare every leader. It's not
Speaker 2: when an employee quits. It's not when someone files a complaint.
Speaker 2: It's not when productivity drops. The most dangerous moment is
Speaker 2: when employees stop telling you things. Think about that for
Speaker 2: a second. Some leaders believe silence means everything is running smoothly.
Speaker 2: They walk through the office and nobody is complaining. Meetings
Speaker 2: are quick, nobody challenges decisions, Everyone nods their head. It
Speaker 2: feels like peace. It isn't peace. It might be surrender.
Speaker 2: Every organization has information flowing through it every minute of
Speaker 2: the day. Employees know where policies don't make sense. They
Speaker 2: know which customers are becoming frustrated. They know which supervisors
Speaker 2: are burning people out. They know when equipment is failing
Speaker 2: before maintenance does. And they know who's carrying the team
Speaker 2: and who is hiding behind everyone else. The question is simple.
Speaker 2: Do they believe it's worth telling you? If they don't,
Speaker 2: leadership has a problem. Employees usually stop sharing information for
Speaker 2: one of several reasons. Maybe they brought up an issue
Speaker 2: before and nothing happened. Maybe they watched someone else get
Speaker 2: embarrassed for speaking up. Maybe leadership became defense If every
Speaker 2: time feedback was offered, people learn that silence is safer
Speaker 2: than honesty, and over time they stop volunteering information. They
Speaker 2: stop offering ideas, they stop warning you about problems, They
Speaker 2: stop helping you avoid mistakes. They don't stop caring overnight,
Speaker 2: they slowly disconnect. And I've seen this in emergency services.
Speaker 2: The newest DMT notices something wrong with a process, but
Speaker 2: keeps quiet because nobody wants to be the rookie who
Speaker 2: questions tradition. A paramedic notices equipment isn't being restocked consistently.
Speaker 2: They decide to fix it themselves because mentioning it has
Speaker 2: never changed anything, and eventually everyone adapts to dysfunction instead
Speaker 2: of solving it. Business isn't any different. Your customer service
Speaker 2: representative knows why customers are leaving. Your technician knows why
Speaker 2: repair take too long. Your warehouse employee knows where thousands
Speaker 2: of dollars are being wasted. Your administrative assistant probably knows
Speaker 2: more about your organizational culture than anyone sitting in the
Speaker 2: executive office. The information exists, the question is whether it
Speaker 2: reaches leadership. Great leaders create environments where information travels uphill.
Speaker 2: Poor leaders create environments where information dies at the bottom.
Speaker 2: So here's something worth remembering. Employees don't evaluate leaders by
Speaker 2: what they say during staff meetings. They evaluate leaders by
Speaker 2: what happens after someone tells them something difficult. That moment
Speaker 2: defines psychological safety. Imagine an employee walks into your office
Speaker 2: and says, I think we're making a mistake. Your first
Speaker 2: reaction matters. Do you become defensive if do you explain
Speaker 2: why they're wrong before they finish talking. Do you interrupt?
Speaker 2: Or do you become curious? One response shuts down communication,
Speaker 2: the other strengthens it. Curiosity is one of the most
Speaker 2: overlooked leadership skills. Instead of saying that isn't happening, ask
Speaker 2: tell me more. Instead of saying that's impossible, ask what
Speaker 2: are you seeing that I'm not. Instead of saying we've
Speaker 2: always done it this way, ask well, what would you change? Questions,
Speaker 2: invite honesty. Defensiveness kills it. And here's another trap that
Speaker 2: leaders fall into. They unintentionally punish bad news. Maybe they
Speaker 2: don't yell, maybe they don't criticize. They simply become visibly
Speaker 2: frustrated every time problems are reported. Employees notice that, and
Speaker 2: soon they begin fill information. Small issues become medium issues,
Speaker 2: medium issues become major problems, and then leadership says, why
Speaker 2: didn't anyone tell me? Someone probably tried. And another question
Speaker 2: every leader should ask themselves is this who feels comfortable
Speaker 2: disagreeing with me? If the answer is nobody, your organization
Speaker 2: is operating with blind spots. The strongest leadership teams I've
Speaker 2: ever worked with weren't filled with people who agreed all
Speaker 2: the time. They were filled with professionals who respected one
Speaker 2: another enough to challenge assumptions before bad decisions became expensive decisions.
Speaker 2: Disagreement handled professionally is healthy. Silence is expensive. So here's
Speaker 2: a practical challenge for you this week. Walk up to
Speaker 2: one employee and ask one simple question, what is one
Speaker 2: thing we're doing that doesn't make sense anymore? And then
Speaker 2: don't defend it, don't explain it, don't solve it immediately,
Speaker 2: Just listen you may hear something you've never considered. You
Speaker 2: may also discover whether your culture encourages honesty or rewards silence.
Speaker 2: Because leadership isn't measured by how much information you give
Speaker 2: your employees. Leadership is measured by how much information your
Speaker 2: employees are willing to give you. When people stop talking,
Speaker 2: leadership starts guessing, and organizations built on guesses rarely stay
Speaker 2: successful for long. So as you head into today, I
Speaker 2: want you to remember this. Every employee is carrying information
Speaker 2: that could make your organization better. Your job isn't to
Speaker 2: pull it out of them through authority. It's to create
Speaker 2: an environment where they choose to share it. Build that
Speaker 2: kind of trust, and you'll solve problems long before they
Speaker 2: become a crisis. This has been the seven minute Leadership Podcast,
Speaker 2: and I thank you for listening.
Speaker 1: For more, Paul Fell of Alito Podcasts, visit paulfellowalito dot
Speaker 1: com