Your Voice Matters!

November 2, 2017

A few years ago, I attended a presentation regarding an HR recruitment campaign entitled, “Birds of a Feather.”  The person who delivered the presentation had already created promotional materials including a colorful feather in a box that was going to be used to incentivize employees to refer friends and family members to the company.  

After the meeting, one of my colleagues asked me, “Wasn’t that a great concept and presentation?” 

“I’m not sure that “birds of a feather” is positive as it doesn’t indicate inclusion,” I hesitantly responded.  “In fact, as a minority, it almost says that if you are not in the club, or if you are different, you are not welcomed.” 

“Wow,” he said.  “I never thought about it that way.” 

By this time, everyone in the room got involved in the conversation.  Long story short, the senior vice president of the group had a follow up discussion with the recruitment leader and the campaign was eventually pulled. 

More importantly, if I had not spoken up and brought a different perspective to the table, the campaign would have kicked off and who knows what kind of backlash the company would have suffered.   

There are many times when we are in meetings and have valuable input but don’t speak up.  Either we feel it’s a dumb idea or our insecurities get the best of us-even when we are the expert. We all need to be more assertive in bringing our perspectives to meetings—even if our ideas are not acted upon. 

As women, we can sometimes lack confidence.  Often our voices are ignored or drowned out.  For instance, in speaking to a friend recently, she indicated that she could have done a better job of contributing during a meeting with the top brass at her company. She was beating herself up all week because of her lack of participation. “I simply froze,” she said. “I was even more upset when a colleague took credit for an idea that I previously shared with her during the same meeting.”

Given that my friend holds a doctorate in Educational Leadership, we discussed how she could have brought the human resources/training perspective to the table. “You’re right,” she said.  “I just wish I could have had this conversation before that meeting.” 

According to an article in the Harvard Business Review by Katheryn Heath, Hill Flynn and Mary Davis Holt, below are some suggestions of what you can do the next time the cat has your tongue: 

• Spend time connecting with others to test your ideas and garner support 
• While you need to have some things written down that you want to talk about, be prepared to speak spontaneously 
• Ask questions in a nonthreatening way.  For example, “Have you thought about this? Or, what if we looked at it this way?” 
• It’s not so much what you say; it’s how you say it.  Keep an even tone and try not to shift to a higher pitch when you are under duress. (I’m personally guilty of this and I will definitely work on this one). 
• Move past confrontation without taking it personally. For example, men can be intense and challenging, but then go out and get a beer together. 

The next time you are in a meeting, make sure you contribute your expertise to the conversation.  Remember, your voice matters.

Do you have other tips? Let me know how you have spoken up in times of uncertainty.