When things aren’t going the way we want, we can stay silent and resentful and hope things will magically change. Or we can speak up and share what we want to be different.
Early in my career, I took the former approach. It was the manager or the VP or the CEO’s job to make change happen. If they weren’t doing the right thing, why would they listen to me? And when I did speak up, I was ignored or condescended to as the junior engineer at the bottom of the hierarchy. So I learned to shut up, and not share my thoughts on how things could change.
15 years later, I was still doing the same thing: putting my head down, working harder, staying silent, thinking it was somebody else’s job to point out why the system wasn’t producing, thinking I had no power.
But my situation had changed. Now my judgment was trusted by VPs and executives, as they looked to me for advice on what to do next. Yet I was still acting as the inexperienced engineer who didn’t have the right to speak up.
Just because somebody is above you in a hierarchy doesn’t mean they know better. They certainly don’t know everything. You can lead from below by sharing a different perspective, one that is compatible with theirs but shows them information that changes their decisions.
Admittedly, some so-called “leaders” do not welcome input from people they consider “beneath” them. I got fired from one job because the CEO didn’t appreciate me doing and saying things that contradicted him. I still remember the sting of speaking up at a meeting with Google VPs, and one of them saying “The adults are talking here, Eric”. But good leaders welcome input, and they want to see the whole picture so they can make better decisions.
When you are keeping your mouth shut, consider whether this is a habit that you have held onto from previous situations or roles, or whether you want to do something different and speak up this time.
What is a situation where you’ve spoken up and it’s been well received?