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How Emerging Leaders Lose their Voice in the Workplace

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10 years ago I was in a meeting with my boss and corporate quality leaders to discuss the hiring of a new quality engineer that would replace me as I moved into a new role in the organization. The leaders were discussing the qualifications that were needed for this role and I was not in alignment with the direction they were taking. I spoke up and said “Isn’t this an Operations role and not a Corporate Quality role?” In the next moments, the absolute silence felt like an eternity. I don’t remember how the conversation ended, but I knew I spoke up and it was not taken well. 

Some time later, my boss called me into his office and told me “You shouldn’t have said that”. What I don’t remember is any coaching I got about what would have been a better approach, because I didn’t get any. I can only remember the moment of devastation – “You shouldn’t have said that”. Whatever happened during the meeting where I spoke up and the follow up meeting was a blur, but hearing nothing and then getting admonished had an impact for many years. I stopped speaking up and voicing my opinion and played safe. 

I ultimately left that organization because they were no longer supporting my growth to impact on a greater scale and found it in another company. The new company allowed me to take risks, show my technical potential and grow my essential skills. 

How can we change the trend for both the individual and the leaders who are not prepared to manage these situations and are causing more devastation?

For the individual, I offer you these thoughts:

  1. Start regular 1-2-1’s with your manager and include a) Immediate topics to align on, b) Mid term topics to align on approaches to projects, c) Long term topics to evolve your leadership and technical skills. Some organizations don’t have a formal program, but you can manage “up” and take control of your career
  2. Find a mentor or business coach. The mentor is a long term relationship that will ask you questions to help you through your challenges & opportunities. A coach will help you on short term topics to build a new skill. You should decide on what you need to take control of your career

For the business leader and your team:

  1. Ask yourself if you have the capacity or capability to serve your team and elevate their technical and essential skills. Are you having regular 1-2-1’s with them? If not, have you ever considered a partner who can work with you to build the skills you need in your team
  2. Ask yourself honestly if you have the skills on your team that will sustain your business through rapid change or will this be what holds you back? Do you know who to turn to, to help with this?
  3. Do you have people on your team who were high performers and who are now disengaged or behaving differently and don’t know what to do or ignore? Are their lost skills and lost voices in your organization that may now hinder your business?

High Performing individuals can do amazing things for your organization, but they must be supported with a long-term vision for growth. If you’ve ever had an idea met with silence, you know the feeling of being swallowed by uncertainty. As a leader, all it takes is a single voice to break that silence and restore confidence.

For more information, please reach out to me at https://dropinceo.com/contact or [email protected]

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The Leadership Gap: What your High Potentials are Not Telling You and Why They’re Leaving You.

Let me start by saying is I don’t have all the answers. However, I see a huge gap in Leadership to have the awareness, infrastructure or processes to ensure your High Performers are nurtured and return value to your business before it’s too late. This doesn’t mean every leader needs to be a mentor to their team, but have some of the skills and the support system to align their High Performers with skilled people who know how to keep them engaged and returning on your investments. So my thoughts are shared with you, the Leader to open my mind to what you can’t see and as a starting point to change the way we approach business and the human assets needed to grow and sustain your business.

  1. High Performers are Hungry for Direction, but you don’t see it or don’t know how to manage it. They are your top performers, they’re constantly asking for feedback on what to Start, Stop or Continue and they’re asking for more work as a means to hopefully be recognized and promoted. What I’m seeing from the multitude of people I’m mentoring is a) the people who are in charge of their career are NOT giving them the hard feedback of what needs to change to be Visible, Respected & Valued, b) the people in charge of their career lack the skills in being able to give them feedback and c) there is no one else to turn to in the organization due to a lack of investment in developing the High Performers. Does this sound familiar? Can you honestly ask yourself if this is important, have you thought about it or do you see the impact this can have on your business? I know I have as your people have been coming to me for what your leaders are not providing.
  2. High Performers are Losing their Confidence and are second guessing their value and on the verge of becoming Average. Do you see this as well? When they come on board you see such promise, but over time, new direction, new leadership or environment your High Performers are not performing. Even more disturbing are the leaders who again lack the ability to provide feedback about what should start, stop or continue to give them something to think about to improve. These High Performers start to disengage and Leaders (if I can call them leaders) wonder what has changed and stop investing in them, further fueling the loss on their investment. These High Performers with time will either fade to average or they leave you for new opportunities. I know this because that has happened to me and when I did leave, the company was surprised and did not realize I was seeking higher challenges, impact and to be visible & respected again.
  3. High Performers go outside of your organization for Mentoring and Guidance because you don’t provide it. This is a positive reflection on the individual due to a Growth Mindset and Vision for their own future. It’s also a negative for the organization because now they’re getting an external perspective from someone who cares. The return to their current leadership who cannot show that caring approach and further reduces their respect for who they work for. The hope is with the mentoring they soon gain the essential skills needed to be Visible and Respected and are back on track for their High Performance Results and hopefully recognition.

Your people are coming to me to mentor them and for that I’m grateful to meet so many great humans. I’m hopeful I can leave a lasting impact on their self esteem and ultimately their personal and career asperations. I’m busy scaling my efforts to bring forth my leadership insights to them to help them become more self aware of their strengths, weakness and passions. I’m working with them to treat feedback as a gift and broaden their perspective on how they show up. I’m providing them the tools for more impactful communications and messaging so they are heard and they show up as leaders to make a difference. The impact of my ability to jumpstart their self awareness and esteem to make a difference in your organization is my gift to your High Performers and to you.

So knowing there is a Leadership Gap in your organization to service your future leaders, what are you going to do about it? Your people are speaking volumes and you’re not hearing it, but I do. I offer my Podcast The Drop in CEO podcast where I provide Insights and Inspirations from Industry Leaders. Shouldn’t that be you? I provide Leadership Tips via Linkedin and Weekly Live Talk Media to bring insights to your High Performers. I also have a Human Centric Leadership Academy that over 6 weeks gives your High Performers the tools they need to be Visible and Respected, but why not you? If this resonates with you and you acknowledge this Leadership Gap, let’s talk because I want to partner with you to preserve your investments. Please know I sincerely care about your High Potentials and I want them to realize their greatest impact personally and professionally. Won’t you join me?

I leave you with this final thought… If you you don’t bridge this Leadership Gap, your High Performers will.

Deborah A. Coviello

Founder of Illumination Partners and the Drop in CEO

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