Do You Need Straight Talk?

There are many signals when people are not speaking up, when politeness replaces honesty and feedback is muted.

Use the ten items below for a quick assessment of whether people in your organisation need to do more straight talking. Answer each item ‘Yes’ or ‘No’

Managers put up with poor performance rather than confront people with critical feedback.
People hold back on full and candid opinions when difficult or sensitive issues are being discussed.
Rather than say what they really think, people use humour and sarcasm to get their point across.
Managers mostly tell people what to do, and take little time to explore the opinions and ideas of staff.
Staff keep quiet rather than speak up to senior people with unwelcome information.
Managers rely more on use of power and authority to get things done, than on their skills in influencing and motivating people.
People ignore behaviour they find offensive, rather than confront colleagues.
People can believe they are performing well, but find their performance appraisal rating is poor.
Managers experience frustration in trying to improve poor performers.
People are allowed to persist in behaviours that others find aggressive or disrespectful but do not speak up.