Show of hands: how many of you have been in a room of people where the tension is so thick you could cut it with a butter knife? This tension might be from a singular person, or conflict between two people, or even a group of people (departments, family, crowds, etc), but nobody dares to call out the issue to those involved. How familiar does that sound?
Those moments are when elephants are in the room.
For our purposes, an elephant is a tough issue that no one talks about. Naming said elephants are extremely uncomfortable for people to do, making the courage to name it that much harder. If you are living in a culture where people fear naming elephants, then this uncomfortable feeling should be very familiar.
I am bringing this to your attention because naming elephants in the room is a crucial step toward making progress on tough organizational challenges. Not just naming the singular elephant in the room, but making a habit of naming said elephants. In other words, going from not daring to utter their name like Voldemort in Harry Potter - to creating a culture where it is safe (even encouraged) to name the elephants in the room early and often.
What does building a culture of naming elephants look like?
Building a culture of naming elephants looks like providing safety and protection from retaliation. This means those in authority stand up for those who may speak up, and even stand up for the "troublemaker(s)" in the organization. Having a dissenting voice is a good thing, so long as it is productive. If the dissenting voice is always saying no, and they justify their reasons for saying no, then leadership has a duty to protect them and others who speak up. Having a diverse group of voices is the key to finding better solutions and getting buy-in from as many stakeholders as possible - even if that voice seems to be the contrarian. Contrarian voices need to be heard if an organization is going to truly be trusted by its employees to speak up.
Another way it might look is having leadership get the ball rolling on naming elephants in the room. If the organization is afraid of doing so due to past history, then it is the job of leadership to set the example. Be curious, and ask the room "What is going on here that no one has felt comfortable saying in public?" Model the behavior that you wish to see from your employees. You can name the elephant in the room the first time, but it takes a cultural shift to empower others to do the same. Be conscious of how people are reacting to the elephant being named, and ask for their feedback on it once named. Then, when the timing makes sense, advise that naming elephants in the room is something that employees will be encouraged to do by you and leadership as a whole.
The final way you can build a culture of naming elephants is by empowering all employees to speak up beyond the scope of their roles when an elephant in the room is named. Any level employee, from an individual contributor on up, should have the authority to say when there is an elephant in the room. A great example is provided in the book The Practice of Adaptive Leadership, where they highlight Toyota empowering anyone on the production line to critique and suggest improvements to the production process. (Heifetz, Linsky, Grashow: The Practice of Adaptive Leadership, 2009). Within any organization, leaders can empower all levels of employees to speak up, regardless of their authority.
Going forward, let's find ways to name the elephants in the room by protecting those who do, modeling the behavior, and empowering all employees to speak up across and above their own roles!
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