Beyond the Surface: Why Your Team Isn’t Telling You What’s Really Wrong

Victoria Canham • 17 September 2025 • 3 min read

Victoria Canham Consultancy | A person stands at a crossroads, with one path leading left and one leading right into a foggy distance. The title 'BEYOND THE SURFACE: WHY YOUR TEAM ISN'T TELLING YOU WHAT'S REALLY WRONG' is at the top, and 'VICTORIACANHAM.COM' is at the bottom.

"Trust is the highest form of human motivation." - Stephen Covey

As a senior leader, you’re constantly making critical decisions that impact your team, your department, and the entire organisation. To make the right decisions, you need accurate, unfiltered information. Yet, how often do you suspect there’s a deeper issue brewing beneath the surface that your team isn't comfortable discussing? You ask for feedback, perhaps even run anonymous surveys, but the responses feel… safe. Vague. And rarely truly illuminating.

This isn't just frustrating; it's a significant barrier to progress, innovation, and a healthy work culture. The problem isn't usually a lack of willingness on your team's part to improve things; it’s a deeper, systemic issue of trust and psychological safety.

The Silent Struggle: Why Teams Hold Back

Even with the best intentions, several factors can stifle genuine feedback:

1. Fear of Retribution (Real or Perceived): Despite assurances of anonymity, employees often worry that speaking up about problems, especially those involving leadership or sensitive issues, could negatively impact their standing, career progression, or even their job security. This fear is a powerful deterrent.

2. The "Fix It Yourself" Mentality: If past feedback hasn't led to visible change, teams learn that their input doesn't matter. Why bother articulating a problem if it's just going to be filed away, or worse, if they'll be expected to solve it themselves without adequate resources or support?

3. Lack of Psychological Safety: This concept, popularised by Amy Edmondson, describes an environment where individuals feel safe to take interpersonal risks – to speak up, ask questions, admit mistakes, and offer new ideas without fear of embarrassment, punishment, or professional detriment. Without it, silence becomes the safest option.

4. Power Dynamics: The inherent power imbalance between senior leaders and team members can make honest dialogue challenging. Employees may not want to be seen as negative, critical, or difficult, especially to those who control their professional trajectory.

5. Indirect Communication Culture: Some organisational cultures inadvertently encourage indirect communication, where concerns are hinted at rather than stated directly. This can be due to a history of conflict avoidance or a lack of clear channels for candid dialogue.

Beyond the Surface: Building a Culture of Trust

So, how do you move past the superficial and uncover what’s really going on? It begins with a conscious, consistent effort to cultivate trust and psychological safety.

Daniel Coyle, in The Culture Code, meticulously breaks down how successful groups build cohesion and trust. He highlights three key skills: Build Safety, Share Vulnerability, and Establish Purpose. For leaders struggling with honest feedback, "Build Safety" is paramount. This means creating an environment where team members feel connected, protected, and willing to engage in honest dialogue.

Here’s how to start:

✳️ Be Vulnerable First: As a leader, open the door by sharing your own challenges, mistakes, and areas where you need help. This humanises you and signals that it’s okay for others to do the same. Ask, "What am I missing?" or "Where could I have done better?"

✳️ Actively Listen and Empathise: When feedback does come, listen without interrupting, defending, or problem-solving immediately. Validate their feelings and perspectives. "I hear you, that sounds incredibly frustrating."

✳️ Demonstrate Action and Follow-Through: The fastest way to build trust is to show that feedback leads to tangible change. Even if you can’t implement every suggestion, explain why and communicate what steps you are taking. Close the feedback loop.

✳️ Reframe Failure as Learning: Create a culture where mistakes are seen as opportunities for growth, not grounds for punishment. When a problem arises, focus on understanding the root cause and preventing recurrence, rather than assigning blame.

✳️ Implement Safe Feedback Channels: While direct conversations are ideal, also provide mechanisms like anonymous suggestion boxes (that are genuinely acted upon), regular 1-on-1s focused purely on feedback, or third-party facilitators for sensitive topics.

The Payoff of Honest Feedback

Unlocking honest feedback isn't just about problem-solving; it's about fostering innovation, boosting morale, improving decision-making, and ultimately, building a more resilient and high-performing team. When your team trusts that their voice matters and will be heard without negative repercussions, they become invested partners in the organisation's success. They move from simply doing their job to actively contributing to a culture where everyone can thrive.

Remember Stephen Covey's wisdom: "Trust is the highest form of human motivation." By proactively building a culture of psychological safety and trust, you won't just get feedback; you'll inspire your team to share their best ideas, their deepest insights, and their most valuable contributions, propelling your organisation forward.

Ready to move beyond the surface and build a culture where your team feels safe to be truly honest?

Don’t let a lack of clear feedback hinder your team's potential. Book a confidential consultation with Vicki today to uncover the hidden challenges in your organisation and create a tailored plan for a healthier, more transparent culture.

🔻

Hi. I'm Vicki, and I help businesses build high-performing, loyal teams by mastering the employee journey. I partner with leaders to drive tangible change, transforming company culture from a pretty promise on a slide deck into a daily reality. My approach goes beyond outdated HR strategies and gets to the heart of what truly motivates and retains your people.

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Victoria Canham - Performance and People Strategic Partner

Victoria Canham is an ICF-accredited Certified Professional Coach and the founder of Victoria Canham Consultancy. We are a specialist performance consultancy partnering with senior leaders and HR teams to elevate culture, leadership, and employee experience. Rooted in behavioural insight and change expertise, we diagnose what's truly holding performance back, co-creating practical, strategic interventions that drive sustainable business results and build workplaces that work—for people and performance.

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