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WE ARE NOT AWARE OF THE

WHAT GETS IN THE

WAY OF LISTENING DISCONNECT BETWEEN CORE

TO EMPLOYEE VOICE? BELIEFS, WORDS, AND ACTION.

one’s reputation and career (Detert & Burris, 2007). Leaders powerless. Over time, disconnect between what he thought
tend to view employees who engage in more challenging forms he believed and what he actually communicated to the team
of voice as less efective performers compared to employees through his actions eroded the trust and confdence of the team.
who express their dissent in more supportive ways (Burris, Good ideas were silenced.
2012). Fear of reprisal is a signifcant reason why employees do We fear feedback and end up managing in the dark.
not share information about issues with those who hold more
senior positions in the organizational hierarchy (Morrison & Are we as leaders so fearful of negative feedback that we are
Milliken, 2000). contributing to a climate of silence in our institutions? Recent
research suggests that this is indeed the case (Morrison &
What gets in the way of listening Milliken, 2000; Milliken & Morrison, 2003; Morrison, 2011).
to employee voice? Tey submit that when leaders do not encourage, reward, or
take action on suggestions made by employees they are actively
We are not aware of the disconnect between core beliefs, discouraging employee contributions.
words, and action. Power casts long shadows. We cannot ignore the dynamics
What gets in the way of our noble intent to create trusting, of power and hierarchy as we consider what helps or hinders
respectful relationships and embrace diverse perspectives? Te employee voice. Leaders have power over others and access to
following story illustrates disconnect between words and action. resources. Burris (2012) suggests that powerful individuals may
Years ago I worked in healthcare for a CEO who insisted that he tend to ignore advice from both novices and experts. Employees
wanted to hear new ideas. Yet every time I ofered a suggestion, who directly challenge the status quo tend to be ignored by
he was dismissive. Very quickly it became clear that he always leaders who may perceive employee suggestions as implicit
had a better idea and had to have things done his way. It seemed criticism of their managerial competence, character, or ability.
apparent that his deepest commitment was actually to keeping Te leader’s response to this perceived threat is to dismiss or
control and being the pre-eminent problem solver. Like many of ignore employee suggestions.
us, he was likely unaware of these core assumptions.
Fear over being revealed as less than competent may be the
Kegan and Lahey (2009) suggest that being unaware of our core biggest stumbling block to encouraging or hearing employee
assumptions and being committed to self-protection provides suggestions. The discrepancy between reality and one’s self-
an “immunity to change” that prevents us from accomplishing image as an effective leader is brought to light by feedback
our goals. As this former CEO fostered greater and greater from employees.
dependency on his ideas and methods, he eroded the team’s
confdence in their ability to tackle even small problems A recent study by Fast, Burris, and Bartel (2014) found that
themselves. Te team came to see themselves as inefective and leaders with lower self-efcacy may not be as efective in
soliciting and listening to employee feedback. Self-efcacy is

LEADERSHIP Vol. 20.3 Winter 2015 15

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