What is important about this book

The thesis of this book, which will be largely supported by various case studies, is that organizations that are able to create a “Speak-up culture” are successful today because “When leaders truly listen, people step up”.
What’s a “Speak-Up Culture”, Anyway? A “Speak-up culture” is an environment in which people feel it is both safe and worth it to share their: ideas, concerns, disagreements, mistakes.
The quality of our relationship with our boss ha s a greater effect on our health than our relationship with our family doctor. Leaders at every level of an organization ought to feel the full weight of the privilege, responsibility, and obligation that such a relationship holds. Leaders are responsible not only for people’s livelihoods but also for their well-being. Leadership in and of itself – in all industries – is a life-feeding or life-depleting line of work.
In his long career as coach, Stephen Shedletzky has helped many leaders to listen to and nurture the voices of others – to foster an environment where people feel it is both safe and worth it to speak up. The bottom line, for everyone, is that organizations with speak-up cultures are safer, more innovative, more engaged and better-performing than their peers.

 

Quotes

  • “Leadership does not live in a title. It lives in behavior”.
  • “Leadership is about owning our impact on others, even if that impact was unintended”.
  • “In our cultures, we get the behavior we reward and the behavior we tolerate”.
  • “Our job as leader is to teach, guide, mentor, coach, and support, not to tell people how we did it and make them do it our way”.
  • “If we want to cultivate a speak-up culture, we must embody the Platinum Rule: treat people as they wish to be treated”.
  • “Focus on encouraging your people to share their truth, and on rewarding it, especially if it’s bad or hard news to hear”.
  • “When people feel cared for, they are more likely to extend that care to others”.
  • “In a speak-up culture, people feel it is both safe and worth it to share ideas, concerns, disagreements, and mistakes”.
  • “When apathy and fear are present, people often look for a way out”.
  • “If you share your feedback with tact, care, respect, and the intento to start a dialogue, the right people will be ready and willing to engage and grow”.

 

Structure and contents of the book

This is a book that helps us understand how to listen so that our team can speak up and step up. It not only highlights the importance of a speak-up culture, but also lays out the elements, building blocks, and behaviors leaders need to build one.
Stephen Shedletzky has divided the book into eleven chapters, creating a path of awareness, at the end of which, the reader will have a clearer idea of what a speak-up culture is, why it pays off, how to choose better leaders, the value of culture, and the importance of feedback.
The breadth and depth of what we can discuss with colleague, the relationships and friendships that can form, and the benefit to the organization in the form of trust, cooperation, collaboration, creativity, and innovation are all good for business and people.
Leaders set the tone. Establishing a speak-up culture requires that individual, teams, and organizations understand what leadership really means – and who is equipped to do it.

 

Instructions for reading this book

The book contains case studies and also provides graphics and illustrations that help to better fix the concepts. Engaging, funny, and compelling, this is an important read for anyone committed to being a more inclusive leader.
This book addresses:

  • those who believe in a leadership and business philosophy that puts people ahead of profits.
  • those who wish to lead in a better way and cultivate the types of work environments that people want to show up to, physically or virtually, every day. They know there is a better way, and they wish to lead that charge.
  • those who may not yet hold a title or position of leadership but are already committed to behaving as a leader.

Sound leadership and healthy speak-up cultures are infinite games – there is no arrival. There is only the journey. There is always more work, more improvement, and more development – of us and others – to be done. Much needs to be done globally, in all industries for healthy speak-up cultures to become the norm. This book will show us how to change our environment from one in which we hear nothing but platitudes, complaints, or the sound of silence into a space where people feel it is both safe and worth it to share feedback, ideas, concerns, errors, and even dissent – where speaking up is encouraged and rewarded. Together with the author, we will explore why building a speak-up culture benefits both individuals and performance, the roadblocks that tend to get in the way, what has gone wrong and right in the organizational culture and leadership at large, and how to overcome those issues and seize the opportunities ahead.
This personal and professional challenge begins with those at the helm of organizations. The author hopes to convey the reader that of course, creating a speak-up culture is no guarantee, it takes deliberate and intentional work to create, maintain, and scale, but is well worth the effort.
Speaking-up is good for business.