Unlocking your team

The counterproductive natural laws of hierarchy need to be overcome before high performance and creativity can happen in teams.

Most places we work, leaders and bosses say that they’re convinced people feel free to speak up, and when asked how much people actually do, it’s not much. When faced with this it’s easy to start getting defensive, as if the fault lies somewhere, but it’s not a fault thing. It is just the way people are - some people will speak up to the boss, some won’t. The point is, that means you only get the ideas and dissenting opinions from some of the people in your team, not all of them.

 If we’re going to unlock the diverse abilities and perspectives in our workplaces, this is a great place to find some gold. So set clear expectations that input is not just welcomed, but expected, and deliberately set about creating an environment of things going well for people when they contribute - shape from small safe beginnings.