9 Ways Leaders Can Get People to Speak Up

Behind every failed project or missed opportunity lies a silent room-one where voices were stifled, concerns were swallowed, and potential solutions went unspoken. As an executive coach, I’ve seen firsthand how the absence of open dialogue can cost organizations dearly, from costly scandals to missed innovations. Yet, fostering a culture where people feel empowered to speak up is not a matter of platitudes or wishful thinking-it’s a strategic, evidence-based leadership imperative.

According to a Harvard Business Review study, teams with high psychological safety—where members feel comfortable speaking their minds—can boost productivity by up to 12% and significantly enhance innovation.

Here are five actionable strategies you can implement immediately to transform your team's willingness to speak up:

Ask Better Questions: Invite Dissent, Don’t Just Allow It

Too many leaders fall into the trap of asking vague, noncommittal questions-“Any thoughts?” or “Does anyone disagree?”-that are easy to ignore, especially in hierarchical settings. A field study of 43 live team meetings found that such questions only elicited dissent 51% of the time, leaving nearly half of the potential challenges unspoken.

Immediate Actions:

• Replace broad questions with targeted prompts: “What’s the biggest risk we’re missing here?” or “Who sees this differently, and why?”

• Signal that disagreement is not just tolerated but desired—frame dissent as a contribution, not a confrontation.

• Rotate the “devil’s advocate” role in meetings to normalize and depersonalize constructive challenge.

Acknowledge Challenges as Legitimate: Validate, Don’t Just Thank

A simple “thank you” is polite but not enough.  Validation (“That’s a valid concern,” or “I hadn’t considered that angle”) signals to the entire team that raising concerns is not just permitted-it’s a valued part of organizational excellence.

Immediate Actions:

• Respond to dissent with specificity: “That’s an important point about our timeline-let’s explore it.”

• Publicly recognize the courage it takes to speak up, especially when it challenges the status quo.

• Share stories within your organization when speaking up led to positive change, reinforcing that such behavior is valued and impactful.

Keep Meetings Interactive and Friendly: Make Dialogue the Default

Power dynamics can make challenging a leader intimidating, and silence often signals fear, not agreement. Interactive, psychologically safe meetings are the breeding ground for innovation and risk mitigation.

Immediate Actions:

• Use humor and informal language to lower barriers.

• Limit your airtime- actively invite quieter voices into the conversation.

• Break larger groups into smaller breakout sessions to encourage more candid dialogue.

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Give Decisions Time: Don’t Rush to Closure

Rushed decisions are the enemy of dissent. When meetings were hurried or time-constrained, even flawed ideas sailed through unchallenged. When leaders allow time for reflection and discussion, the quality and frequency of challenges will increase.

Immediate Actions:

• Build explicit “challenge time” into agendas, ensuring there’s space for debate before decisions are finalized.

• Encourage team members to “sleep on it” for big decisions, inviting follow-up input after initial discussions.

• Use anonymous digital tools to gather concerns that may not surface in real time.

Create Accountability: Make Speaking Up a Shared Responsibility

When leaders make individuals accountable for the outcome of decisions, team members are far more likely to voice dissent. Accountability transforms passive bystanders into active stakeholders, increasing the quality of decisions and the sense of team cohesion. Mechanisms like voting or requiring explicit endorsements make silence less attractive and engagement more likely.

Immediate Actions:

• Assign clear ownership for decisions and ask team members to state their positions: “Which option do you support, and why?”

• Use structured decision-making tools (e.g., RACI charts, consensus voting) to clarify roles and expectations.

• To reinforce accountability, follow up on previous challenges by asking, “What happened after you raised that concern?”

Cultivate Psychological Safety

Google’s famed Project Aristotle research underscored psychological safety as the most critical factor in high-performing teams.

Immediate Actions:

• Invite vulnerability: Share your challenges openly. Demonstrate that it's safe—and expected—to acknowledge difficulties.

• Encourage candid feedback: Make seeking honest feedback a routine by asking, "What might we be missing here?" or "What concerns haven't we discussed?"

• Schedule a weekly "check-in" moment in meetings dedicated specifically to hearing concerns and fostering openness.

Create Structured Opportunities for Input

Not everyone thrives in spontaneous exchanges. People with dominant Analytical and Amiable styles prefer thinking and processing before speaking. Having structured input opportunities can dramatically increase participation from these diverse team members.

Immediate Actions

• Pre-meeting prep: Send out agendas with clearly articulated questions at least two days ahead of time.

• Use varied formats: Encourage written input or smaller breakout groups to ensure all voices, including quieter ones, have space to emerge.

• Before your next meeting, circulate one critical question you’ll address, and invite team members to prepare brief thoughts in advance.

Reward Courageous Voices

Recognition powerfully shapes behavior. As Brené Brown articulates, courage isn't comfortable, but it's necessary for meaningful dialogue and innovation.

Immediate Actions

• Celebrate openly: Highlight examples of courage in speaking up, especially when addressing challenging or controversial topics.

• Integrate feedback into decisions: Demonstrating that input leads to action reinforces the behavior of sharing ideas openly.

• Start your next meeting by thanking someone specifically for their bravery in voicing a difficult opinion or insightful question from the previous session.

Follow Through with Transparency

Nothing discourages open dialogue more than feeling like input vanishes into a void. Ensuring transparency reinforces trust.

Immediate Actions

• Communicate outcomes: Regularly update your team on how their input influenced decisions, even when their suggestions aren't fully implemented.

• Provide rationale: Clearly articulate why certain ideas were adopted and others were not.

• After your next key decision, send a brief communication outlining the contributions received, what was incorporated, and why.

Your immediate challenge: In your next meeting, choose one of these strategies and implement it. Notice the shift, not just in what’s said, but in the energy, engagement, and ownership that follows. When you empower people to speak up, you unlock the full potential of your team, organization, and yourself.