A Secret to Success: Encouraging Team Members to “Voice the Voice in Their Head”

By Katherine Lewis 

All teams need operating principles that help foster team dynamics — guidelines that put values into words and that every team member can embrace. One of my favorites is “Voice the Voice Inside My Head.” I’ve had several of my c-suite leaders incorporate this into their culture and I’ve seen it used to help nurture highly successful teams.

It is critical that all voices on a team or in an organization are heard, and often employees don’t feel comfortable speaking up. It's not always easy to create the atmosphere of psychological trust and safety that enables that, and this is where guiding principles can help. Google did research on teams and concluded that one of the key factors to successful teams is “equality in conversational turn taking.”  

When an employee prefaces what they are about to say with “Now I’m going to Voice the Voice Inside My Head,” it gives them permission to say what might be risky or controversial, perhaps because they are pushing back on a boss or an assertive colleague or perhaps because they are just afraid of being wrong or looking stupid. It’s a way to say the difficult thing that otherwise might not get said. 

One reason it is so effective is that it separates the person from the "voice."  So, I am not really saying this, it’s the voice in my head and it needs to be heard, so don’t judge me. If you have to judge, judge the voice. 

It reminds everyone in the room that they agreed to this principle and it serves as a verbal signal that they need to be open minded about what is coming. It helps everybody reset, takes them out of the moment and reminds them to detach from their own agenda. It can dial down conflict and remind team members that more introverted colleagues may be hesitant and need more time and space to voice their thoughts. 

Leaders like it because it’s a great way to promote active listening and stop the amygdala hijack (a.k.a. the fight, flight or freeze reaction) in its tracks.

This principle also serves the purpose of helping executives notice that there is a voice inside their head, too. And that this is a voice that they might be ignoring or not being transparent about when they need to be. Noticing your underlying thoughts and either expressing them appropriately or reframing them to serve you better are key to staying grounded and centered, especially in difficult situations or conversations.

To incorporate this mantra into your company’s culture, first establish it as an operating principle for the teams within the organization. Remind colleagues at the start of a meeting to uphold the principle. You can even ask everyone at the end of a meeting how they rate themselves on upholding the principle. Post the mantra on the wall in conference rooms or on a sign on your desk. Put a sticky note on your laptop to remind yourself. Most importantly: repeat it A LOT. It is easy to forget these things when employees are trying to operate in a VUCA (volatility, uncertainty, complexity, ambiguity)  world. While it may feel repetitive, that’s probably when people start to retain it. Get creative.

I’ve seen several leaders and teams that I coach use this standard with enormous success. More introverted members speak up and share the concerns that may not have felt comfortable airing. In one instance, this led an organization to implement some mental health and wellness procedures at the height of the pandemic. Were it not for the “voice being voiced,” the otherwise highly driven and results-oriented team might have overlooked the employees’ need for such measures.

For more advice on helping your teams soar to new heights of harmony and success, contact me at katherine@lewisrushassociates.com.