The fact that DENKie’s programmes around Safetyboarding have already managed to win over several large companies is partly due to the talent of the employees in our team, but also due to firmly emphasising a culture in which listening to each other is very important and in which everyone is given the space to speak their mind in a safe way. Because remaining silent and leaving things ‘blue-blue’ is actually deadly for any company. As can also be read in a recently published book by Gytha Heins entitled ‘Why doesn’t anyone say anything about it?’.
Addressing wrong behaviour?
Who really dares to open his or her mouth to point out in the professional context things or behaviours that are inappropriate? Especially when we see that whistleblowers often face a real agony. In Belgium, it has even led to the publication of a guide for whistleblowers.
The training company Crucial Learning has even developed special training courses that help people learn to open their mouths anyway and to raise what is actually unacceptable in a respectful way. The practical tests showed that many people find it very difficult to call others to account for undesirable behaviour.
If people don’t speak up, there can be very bad consequences. It’s like bottling things up for ourselves: sooner or later it leads to outbursts that are actually avoidable.
Safetyboarding helps to speak openly
Fortunately, there is gradually less reluctance to break the taboo. Just think of the way the ladies of the Belgian national volleyball team finally started to discuss the behaviour of their very successful coach. And that is a positive evolution, because if we don’t dare open our mouths it can have very serious consequences. If we do not react when we see a bus driver drunk at the wheel, or if we remain silent in the face of obvious wrongdoing because we fear reprisals or think we will jeopardise good relations and a good working atmosphere, we are not contributing to the collective well-being. According to www.trendsinhr.nl, Gytha Heins surveyed 500 managers about their addressing behaviour and concluded that 97% of them indicated that employees in an organisation do not address each other enough.
Precisely because Safetyboarding by DENKie addresses that problem, many organisations have already put their trust in our formats, which ensure that companies become happy, safe and sustainable places, where mental safety is guaranteed for everyone. Safetyboarding creates a culture where everyone feels safe to speak their mind in an assertive but polite and respectful manner. This way, calling for openness does not remain a dead letter. ‘Hou je bek en bef me’ (‘shut up and go down on me’) was the action-inviting and provocative title of a song by Merol. But at Safetyboarding, keeping your mouth shut, to use those cheeky words as well, is not an issue. Constructive criticism and open communication are strong cornerstones of Safetyboarding that can make organisations stronger every day according to the ‘plus one philosophy’.
Author: Geert Degrande
