SHH! (don’t mention it!)
What are the taboo topics that don’t get talked about? Join the conversation
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We want to hear what your taboo topics are. What WOULDN’T you feel comfortable raising with colleagues? Please take just a couple of minutes to make your contribution via our short survey. Total confidentiality assured…
We all know from experience that there are loads of taboo topics at work, and that traditionally these have often been picked up during informal conversations. At the coffee machine, or maybe as you happen to be walking between meetings together with someone you trust. Those ‘sidebar’ conversations can’t and don’t happen so much when we are all working remotely. Where are the sidebar conversations happening now? Where do you raise those topics you want to talk about but don’t feel like raising in a public forum? What are the ‘unmentionable’ questions you wish you could ask but fear might be career limiting?
I’ve been designing, contributing to and facilitating leadership development programmes for more than 20 years. Much has changed in that time, but some things remain the same. One common experience is the quiet sidebar conversation.
You might have done this yourself, or seen others.
It’s having a word at the end of a session when everyone else has already gone. A chat in a private corner over coffee. This is where we facilitators hear about the challenges people don’t necessarily want to raise in open session, and certainly don’t feel like raising with their colleagues or boss. The stuff that makes you wonder if you’re the only one.
Normally I have loads of these conversations. It seems like once we’ve established a bit of trust, and demonstrated a bit of credibility by sharing useful content and insight during sessions, people feel ready to reach out for counsel that’s just for them. Not mediated by the company, and not a coaching conversation per se.
I wonder where these conversations have gone in the world of virtual work and virtual meetings. Who are we asking about things like:
· Why don’t I feel like I can connect with some (maybe all!) of the people in my team?
· How can I prepare for the risk of redundancy without making it look like I’m volunteering?
· Now that my budget has gone off track in the middle of the year, how can I start correcting without throwing all my plans out of the window?
· What would really be involved in moving to the next level of leadership?
· Does the word ‘strategy’ actually mean something specific? Or is it just what we add when something’s important?
· Am I the only one who doesn’t know what all these accounting acronyms stand for? What exactly is ROCE? And is it better or worse as a measure than EVA? Or something else?
What unmentionable management issues can you think of?
We’re building a list. Please contribute any suggestions via this link.
