🔌 When Power Blocks Progress: The Cost of Not Listening
How overlooked voices, unchecked egos, and silent meetings lead to costly decisions — and what organisations can do about it.
It’s a story I’ve seen unfold far too often.
Inside an organisation, smart people are working hard. They understand the business. They know the customers. They see what’s not working. And they care enough to speak up — at first.
But then, something happens. Or rather, someone happens.
A key decision-maker — sometimes a senior manager, sometimes a project sponsor — consistently disregards the insights from their team. Not only that, they may dismiss input with disdain, subtly (or not so subtly) making people feel foolish for raising concerns or offering alternatives.
Over time, people stop trying.
Not because they don’t care, but because they’ve learned it doesn’t matter.
This is more than just a culture issue. It’s a risk.
🤦 The Hidden Cost of Suppressed Voices
When smart people stop speaking up, two things happen:
Decisions are made in a vacuum.
Without diverse input, decision-makers rely on filtered or incomplete information. Their choices — even when made with good intentions — often misfire. And the cost? Missed opportunities, rework, reputational damage, and wasted investment.
The organisation starts to decay from within.
Frustration grows. Initiative fades. People disengage. And in today’s world of public company reviews, internal discontent doesn’t stay internal for long. Platforms like Glassdoor make frustration visible — and future hires take notice.
It’s no wonder some companies struggle to attract the talent they need to move forward.
📉 A Real Example: The ERP That Almost Broke the Business
At one company I worked with, a senior executive insisted on customising a new ERP system to match the way things had always been done — despite repeated warnings from process experts and implementation consultants.
The result?
A system so complex and brittle that core business operations stalled for weeks after go-live. Recovery took months and cost millions.
The worst part?
Several team members had quietly warned about this, months earlier — but had long since stopped pushing the point after being publicly shut down in earlier meetings.
To make things even worse, multiple people were open about the company’s ‘bullying culture’ on the website glassdoor.com, tarnishing the company’s reputation and even make it more difficult to recruit the people they needed!
🔁 Breaking the Cycle: What Can Be Done?
This dynamic isn’t inevitable. But it won’t fix itself either. Here are some strategies to shift it:
1. Make it Safe to Speak Truth to Power
Create safe environments — formal and informal — where feedback can surface without fear. This can be anonymous pulse checks, facilitated retrospectives, or skip-level conversations with neutral parties.
Vignette: In one client project, we introduced a “Red Flag” channel during weekly project meetings. Anyone could raise concerns, and each had to be acknowledged by leadership. It was uncomfortable at first — but it prevented several expensive mistakes.
2. Equip Leaders to Hear What’s Hard to Hear
Some leaders genuinely don’t realise how dismissive they seem. Providing feedback — gently but firmly — on how their behaviour impacts others can be a turning point.
Vignette: A CEO I coached had no idea her eye-rolls in meetings were silencing her team. I agreed an innocuous gesture I would share with her when I observed when she did this. We discussed it afterwards, and she said she had no idea how often she did this. So, she changed her meeting style dramatically.
3. Give People Language to Push Back Respectfully
Sometimes people don’t challenge because they don’t know how. Equip them with phrases and frameworks for raising concerns in a constructive way.
Vignette: We introduced the phrase “Have we considered…” into one organisation’s meetings. It became a safe way to raise alternatives without sounding confrontational.
4. Watch the Signals — and Act Early
If people start “checking out” or if feedback loops go silent, it’s a sign of deeper issues. Look beyond engagement survey averages to the real stories — exit interviews, informal comments, or even social media reviews.
Vignette: At a European logistics firm, internal project forums had gone quiet. Engagement scores looked fine on paper, but hallway conversations told a different story. The tipping point came when a senior project manager quietly handed in her resignation, citing “not being heard” as her primary reason. Leadership brought us in as a neutral facilitator to conduct exit interviews and team listening sessions. What emerged was a pattern of early warnings being ignored, leading to frustration and disengagement. That insight led to changes in leadership communication practices — and several key team members decided to stay.
5. Reward Candour, Not Just Compliance
If the people who speak truth to power get sidelined — and those who keep quiet get promoted — the message is clear. Reverse the incentive. Reward insight, even if it’s uncomfortable.
Vignette: In one North American software company, product teams were encouraged to present only “green” updates to avoid difficult questions from the executive team. A new CTO flipped the narrative. In her first quarterly review, she asked each team to start with “What didn’t go as expected?” One product owner hesitated, then shared a failed feature test and what they learned. Instead of criticism, she received praise — and her team got extra support to build a better version. The change was palpable. Within two quarters, sharing lessons learned became a company norm — and innovation velocity increased.
💥 The Price of Ego vs. the Cost of Listening
When a leader’s ego blocks progress, everyone pays — in morale, in money, and in missed opportunities.
But when leaders create space for challenge and listen well, the organisation gets smarter, faster, and stronger.
It’s not always comfortable. But the best leaders I’ve seen don’t confuse agreement with alignment. They know that when people stop disagreeing, that’s when you’re in trouble.
👣 A Question to Reflect On
Who do you need to listen to — that you might have tuned out?
Or, if you’re the one being ignored:
What’s one small step you could take to make your voice count again?
About the author
I’m Frank Smits, a change and transformation consultant with over 25 years of international experience helping organisations navigate complex business and IT-driven change. I have particular expertise in setting up and managing global HR programmes, including the implementation of HRIS solutions such as SAP SuccessFactors.
I’ve worked with global teams across industries and cultures to deliver major transformations—balancing strategy, execution, and the human side of change. Based in Europe, I work in multiple languages and thrive on making change practical, collaborative, and real.
What I can offer:
I help you shape and manage the engagements to achieve your business outcomes. By bringing in my specialist programme management, change and transformation expertise. From initiation through to implementation. Or any part thereof. This includes leading large-scale business change initiatives, from digital transformation to complex HR programmes.
As executives, you may need a discrete partner to test your ideas. Or get fresh, new ones. I will act as your sparring partner. To having the right conversations. Helping you succeed. This applies to all areas of business leadership—including how to navigate and lead major HR change or transformation initiatives.
Expertise in designing and facilitating innovative and engaging interventions. And, if needed, I can convene a variety of experts from my extensive network (academics, peers, consultants, active retirees) to open up new thinking. In HR programme leadership, this means bringing together key stakeholders—HR, IT, business leaders, and external partners—to drive alignment and engagement.
Sometimes you would like your leaders to get dedicated, customised, specialist education. To enhance your capabilities. To possibly change the conversation. HR leaders facing major change or transformation also need the right tools and perspectives to guide their teams. I can help build that capability.
Find me on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/franksmits