What stops you from Speaking up?

In a recent poll I carried out on LinkedIn, I asked what individuals to choose from a dropdown menu, would stop them from speaking up at a meeting.

Looking at the poll results, unsurprisingly fear of judgement and feeling unsupported came out on top.

I’m going to take a look at fear of judgement. The first thing to note is this is a normal reaction. This is the subconscious brain stepping in to protect you.

As humans we are wired for safety - to connect and to belong. Anything that is perceived as a threat to this need, as a danger, will trigger a fight or flight reaction. However, the subconscious brain cannot decipher between real and perceived danger so if steps are not taken to engage the rational brain, chances are, you will continue to stay silent, preventing you sharing opinions or insights which may be valuable to your team or organisation.

There are certainly factors outside of your control which may be adding to this fear, but for the purpose of this blog I am going to share a few simple tips to help you to start working on the factors you can control.

1. Prepare in advance: Think about what you want to say or ask. Write it down and rehearse in advance if possible. This will help you feel more confident and focused.
2. Catch the self-sabotaging: When you notice yourself having negative or irrational thoughts about being judged, challenge them and replace them with more realistic and positive ones e.g., instead of telling yourself everyone will say I am not up to the role if I make a mistake, try something like people give opinions here all the time so why should I be any different?.
3. Shift your focus: Instead of focussing on yourself, focus on what you have to contribute and how it could help. In other words, get out of your own way. When you take the focus off yourself, it will help you feel more engaged but less self-conscious.
4. Challenge your thoughts: Ask yourself what is the worst that can happen. You will hopefully conclude that there is no evidence to indicate that your contribution will have any negative impact on you or your career.
5. Start small: Start with a comment or a question and build up from there. Bank your success and try to stretch yourself more each time. 6. Foster a growth mindset and see this as a learning and growing experience rather than a failure if it doesn’t go to plan.
7. Breathe: Most importantly, practice some deep breathing in advance of your meeting. It will help to calm and ground you which will in turn enable you to present yourself in a more articulate and confident manner.

Try these simple tips and see how you can overcome your fear of speaking up.

If you would like a conversation to learn how coaching could help you improve your performance in the workplace, why not book in your complementary discovery call .