4 Ways To Increase Employee Voice

Written by: Jennifer Dougherty, Executive Contributor

Executive Contributors at Brainz Magazine are handpicked and invited to contribute because of their knowledge and valuable insight within their area of expertise.

An employee is the last one in the office for the afternoon, or so she thought. She hears a rustling in the hallway and sets off to explore. She finds her supervisor dropping something off at the office door of another employee. “Hi Dr. X, how are you doing?” she chipperly asks. “I am doing well. How are you doing, Rose? How is the new position going?” Dr. X asks. “I’m doing all right, and the new position keeps me busy.” Rose states, hoping to fake enthusiasm to mask the reality. Rose was growing even more disenchanted with the organization and the new position, looking for other employment. She was exceedingly concerned about the state of things (high turnover, low morale, lack of acknowledgment, and toxic positivity from leadership).

“Oh, good! And how is coaching going?” Dr. X inquired. “Well, it is going ok. I do not think the word has spread, so it is slow. But the clients I have been coaching all seem to be experiencing similar issues,” as Rose tries in a very subtle way to let her supervisor know that things are amiss in the organization. “Oh! Did you need to refer them, or?” Dr. X replies concernedly. “Oh no, similar organizational issues,” Rose again tries subtlety. “Ah, ok, well, let me know if I can help in any way to spread the word,” Dr. X replies, switching back to a more positive tone. “Thank you, Dr. X will do! By doing the presentations that I am, that should help.” Dr. X heads out for the day, and Rose retreats to her office, questioning things even more and feeling discouraged.

At this point, I invite you to reflect on this scenario (a real-life interaction that occurred) on Rose’s part of the situation. Would you say Rose was experiencing psychological safety with Dr. X to voice her true feelings and concerns and be an advocate for her coachees? If not, why? Did Rose even think that speaking up would have an impact if she spoke up? I know close-end leading questions, which is very uncoach-like, but I am hoping you are pausing to think about these aspects, which connect with the concept of employee voicing.

Employee Voicing

In general, voicing is a discretionary communication of ideas, suggestions, or concerns intended to benefit the organization (Detert & Burris, 2007; Morrison, 2011). Employee voicing significantly assists in the organizational decision-making process and error correction and builds employee trust, morale, and engagement (Milliken, Morrison, & Hewlin, 2003; Constantin & Baias, 2015). Voicing occurs for several reasons, and there are distinct types of voicing. Two common forms of voicing are promotive voicing and prohibitive voicing. Promotive voicing is a way to improve existing practices and procedures to benefit organizations, and prohibitive voicing is about raising concerns related to existing or impending practices, incidents, or behaviors that may harm the organization (Liang et al., 2012). Individual characteristics such as personality traits, behaviors, and morals can all play a vital role in the decision and act of voicing and influencing both leader-follower relationships and organizations. Moreover, Milliken et al. (2003) noted that employees learn what they can and cannot say or discuss in the workplace through observation and communication with other employees.

Employee Silence

Hopefully, without going into an incredibly detailed literature review, the above paragraph will paint the picture (to a degree) of the benefits and influence employee voicing can have on other employees, the leader-follower relationships, and organizations overall. The other side of this coin is employee/organizational silence. According to Tangirala and Ramanujam (2008), silence is a behavior that intentionally holds back questions, ideas, information, problems, or opinions. Organizational silence can compromise decision-making and change by limiting the variety of information accessible to decision-makers. Additionally, Morrison and Milliken (2000) note that by blocking negative feedback and detecting and correcting errors, the silence can be interpreted as consensus and success and decrease an organization’s capability to change and develop. Organizational silence resulted in employees’ not feeling valued and experiencing a perceived lack of control (Morrison & Milliken, 2000) as additional consequences. Just as with voicing, employee/organizational silence occurs for assorted reasons, and individual characteristics such as personality traits, behaviors, and morals can all play a vital role in the decision and act of voicing and influencing both leader-follower relationships and organizations.

Strategies to Increase Employee Voicing

So, if you are thinking, “All right, it sounds like employee voicing is a good thing and employee/organizational silence not so much. Then how can I increase employee voicing?” Well, the following suggestions you might find beneficial.

Seek Consultation and Increase Psychological Safety

Leadership should provide and support a climate that welcomes and values employee contributions so that employees have fewer reasons to remain silent and feel invited and safe to voice. Moreover, when employees are made to feel invited and safe to speak, they are more willing to do so, which will keep lines of communication open in the leader-follower relationship and throughout the organization. Suggestions to seek consultation with employees and increase psychological safety are:

• Focus groups

• Suggestion boxes

• Stay interviews

• Pulse surveys

• Data dialogues

• Open-door policies

Develop A Culture Valuing Voicing

Organizations and leaders need to be aware of voicing and silencing behaviors. They need to model voicing beliefs and behaviors and holding those who engage in silent behaviors accountable for their actions, behaviors, and decisions. By doing so, organizations will establish a culture of accountability, responsibility, and compassion. Suggestions to seek developing an organizational culture that values voicing are:

• Allow for promotive and prohibitive voice, plus model values and behaviors around voicing

• Make voicing a positive experience

• Cultivate psychological safety

• Town halls

• Learning action sets

• Culture champions

Be Mindful of Perceptions and Implicit Beliefs

Being mindful of how others view themselves and their feelings connected to their self-image can provide insight into an individual’s actions. With such understanding, followers and leaders will reframe their perceptions of one another and voicing/silence behaviors. Suggestions for being mindful of perceptions and implicit beliefs are:

• Perspective taking

• Training and workshops

• Coaching

• Mentorship

• Assessments

• Mindfulness exercises

• Open dialogues

• Demonstrating an attitude of openness toward voicing

Make Voicing a Positive Experience

To make voicing and engagement a positive experience for employees, organizations should show appreciation and gratitude in manners that suit the employee personally. Suggestions for making voicing a positive experience are:

• Show appreciation and gratitude

• Seeking consultation showing employees they are valued (accepted and essential)

• Allow employees to be a part of impacting the organization and the decisions, policies, and procedures that affect them

Are you ready to create a culture and climate that welcome employees’ feedback and assistance while decreasing an environment of silence while illustrating to employees that they are valued and listened to, their input matters, and their contributions are welcomed? Are you ready to decrease intentions to quit, employee lack of commitment, dissatisfaction, and construct different experiences for all in the organization? If you are ready to increase employee voicing, I invite you to reach out to me via LinkedIn or my website about the possibilities of partnering to see how I can help. I want to leave you with one parting question: are organizations, leaders, and followers prepared for the consequences if they do not act and uphold the status quo?

Follow me on LinkedIn and visit my website for more info!

Jennifer Dougherty, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine

Dr. Jennifer E. Dougherty is a ICF and iPEC certified leadership coach, organizational consultant, and trainer and facilitator. She is passionate about helping leaders at multiple levels and organizations be the best versions of themselves. Dr. Dougherty has been helping organizations and leaders who needed assistance changing their organization’s culture, providing work-life harmony for themselves and their employees, increasing teamwork, engagement, collaboration, and voicing. While at the same time decreasing turnover, organizational silence, burnout, and absenteeism. She is the founder and lead coach of Dougherty Coaching and Consulting and believes that the primary purpose of life is to learn and develop.