The Art of Leadership – Creating a Culture of Open Dialogue and Innovation

When you think of a leader, you may think of someone who’s confident, caring, decisive, and determined. While these are all very important attributes, leaders should also leave room for employees to respectfully challenge their ideas.

Some of the strongest and most successful leaders we have coached, make decisions, or talk them through, in groups. Sometimes you may think that you’ve got the answer, or covered all of your bases, and then, out of left field, an employee says, “What about…” and provides a great idea that hasn’t been considered. Be thankful for these employees. Confident employees have the courage to speak up and provide ideas and honest feedback that leaders need in order to make the best possible decisions.

Here are some things that great leaders do to help employees feel comfortable enough to speak up:

1. Build trust. For employees to feel comfortable speaking up, they need to trust you. Trust creates a safe environment for speaking up and sharing new or opposing ideas.
2. Clarify the organization’s vision and goals. Because all decisions should be made with the organization’s vision and goals in mind, it’s important to make sure that each employee understands exactly what they are.
3. Change your goal from “being right” to finding the best solution that will work. When an employee challenges one of your decisions, leave egos out of it and turn the focus to what’s best for the company and the team. With egos out of the way, you’ll be open to even more solutions than you would have otherwise been.
4. Share information. While employees may still speak up if they aren’t aware of what’s going on in the organization, more than likely, their uninformed input won’t be very useful or constructive. Take time to keep your employees informed about what’s happening within your team and the organization. The more informed and included people feel, the more they want the team to succeed, making them more confident to speak up.
5. Ask. It seems obvious, but it can be easy to overlook. When implementing decisions, tell employees that you’re open to their input, even if it contradicts your view or decision. This way, they’ll be more likely to provide their input.
6. Listen and respond: It’s not enough to ask your employees for their input, you must truly listen and answer questions. Answering questions is the best way to help an employee grasp the full picture so that they can use their understanding to frame their input.
7. Be an example. Put simply: Whenever you propose an alternative option or viewpoint, your employees are taking note. Show your employees what it looks like to respectfully challenge another’s suggestion. 
8. Find a way to say yes. Saying an outright “no” will discourage employees from sharing their ideas. Unfortunately, some employee suggestions just won’t be able to be implemented. Instead of saying “no,” say something like this, “Sarah, that’s a great suggestion that you have but, unfortunately, I just don’t think that xyz will work at this time because [insert reason here]. What if we did wxy instead?”
9. Thank people for their input. There is an opportunity to have an even stronger relationship and a more successful team with people who don’t always think alike. If people have the guts to disagree with you, indirectly, they are helping you to become a better leader. Thank the people who are willing to speak up with an alternative opinion.
10. Take action. If an employee has provided you with feedback or an idea and you’ve told him or her that it’ll be implemented, make sure the action is carried out. If not, this will discourage your employees from speaking up, no matter how many times you ask.

If your employees have taken the bait and challenged you on something, encourage them to take the lead in at least part of the agreed upon solution. Their passion and understanding of the idea will not only help build excitement in others to help see the idea to fruition, but will also earn you, as well as them, more followers. Great leaders beget other leaders.