What Your Team Isn’t Telling You

Even the most approachable leaders can miss this: your team isn’t telling you everything. It’s not because they’re dishonest or disloyal. It’s because they’re human—and so are you. In any organization, there’s a natural hesitation to speak up about tough topics: your blind spots, your confusing decisions, your habits that cause stress or stall progress.

If you don’t know what your team isn’t telling you, you’re missing out.

Your team might be holding back on feedback about your communication style, decisions they don’t understand, or tensions they feel but haven’t voiced. They might be confused by shifting priorities or unsure how to tell you when something isn’t working. Sometimes they’re protecting themselves. Other times, they’re protecting you. Either way, the result is the same: you’re flying blind in critical areas of team performance and morale.

If you’re only hearing smooth reports and polite nods, you’re not hearing everything. Great teams don’t just speak when spoken to—they engage, question, and contribute. And that only happens when the environment is safe enough for honesty, and structured enough for reflection.

Tune in to the silence

To soar in your role, you’ll need to develop your instrument panel—tools and habits that reveal the unspoken.

• You talk too much. If your meetings are mostly you, they’re not sharing.
• You’re not asking the right questions. Try, “What am I missing?” or “What’s one thing I could do better?”
• Your body language isn’t as safe as your words. Are you reacting? Defending? Brushing past concerns?
• You correct instead of coaching. Feedback should lift, not flatten.
• You reward agreement, not honesty. Teams quickly learn what’s really encouraged.
• You haven’t built in debrief time. Insight comes after the moment, not during.

Great leadership isn’t about having all the answers—it’s about hearing what your team isn’t telling you. Create space for truth to land. When you make it safe, clear and rewarding to speak up, you’ll start hearing what your team really thinks—and that’s where your next breakthrough lies.

I can help you build a culture of honesty and trust in your organization. You haven’t peaked yet!