I had the opportunity to train a remarkable group of Learning and Development professionals from a prominent company last week. The training session, called CONNECT for Teams, focuses on creating deeper connections within teams, including hybrid and remote teams. During one of the breakout sessions, there were lively discussions and brainstorming activities. As I actively participated in one particular breakout, I noticed that one participant was holding back. It was evident that they had valuable insights to contribute. Later, in a one-on-one conversation, I probed further and discovered that they were suppressing some great ideas and contributions to the team. It was at that moment I highlighted that they were "violating their own constitution by censoring their freedom of speech." That is how I like to present self-censorship. This prompted a discussion on the topic of self-censorship, its reasons, and its implications. Let's talk about it.

As a leadership development...

We all have that manager or leader that just stinks at giving negative feedback or waits until the yearly performance review to give it all at once. We train leaders to be giving constant feedback as a habit and culture within their team and company. The more it is given it just becomes feedback and not negative or positive as a label. With that in mind, there is still a way to posture and communicate well negative feedback. 

Negative feedback – it’s never something you look forward to giving as a leader.
However, that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t give it. Although it’s difficult to say negative things about your employees’ work, it’s worth remembering that your staff can only thrive if you give them direction.

Negative feedback is a method of giving your team members the tools they need to improve and get better at their jobs.

According to one study, 83% of employees say they appreciate both positive and negative feedback.

So, how do you...

Communication is the lifeblood of leadership. It's what separates leadership from dictatorship or leadership styles that are too authoritarian. There are many ways to improve your communication as a leader, but here are three important ones to get you started.

Asking questions instead of telling

Of course it's important for you to tell people what they should do and how they should do it, but real improvement only occurs when people understand why they're doing something, not just how it needs to be done. Often times leaders will give an order or direction with no explanation as to why or under what circumstances the plan was created in the first place. People need context and links with past events if they're going to improve upon them so asking questions rather than telling is a great way to improve communication.

Being open about your own thoughts and feelings

We often think that when we're in meetings or talking with someone, the only thing they care...