Listen to the Silent Majority

How often have you been in a meeting where one person is monopolizing it and others in the room don’t agree with him/her…but nobody speaks up? It may be fear, lethargy, or something else keeping everyone quiet. Whatever the cause, they represent the silent majority—and what they think matters.

Baroness Pauline Perry, a member of the House of Lords in London and largely considered England’s top educator says, “It’s easy as a leader to be swayed by the vocal minority—people who make a fuss or shout the loudest or complain. If you’re not careful, your policy-making will be skewed toward the minority—a vocal minority.”

I learned through some painful experiences in the workplace how important it is to tune out the vocal minority and tune in the silent majority. Rather than listening to those always complaining, I needed to reach out to those who were “just doing their jobs.” One way to keep yourself focused on that minority is to have confidante who will let you know when you are being swayed by the outspoken group. Baroness Perry explains that when she first interviewed the man who would be her second in command, he asked her, “Can you take bad news? Because if I’m going to do the job right, I’m going to have to give you bad news and I want to make sure you can take it.” He was invaluable to her in pointing out when she succumbed to the vocal minority.

“When I was head of the university, at the beginning of the academic year I went around to the campuses to talk to the troops. At the first campus we had the vocal minority. At the second one, I changed my talk to answer some of the criticisms of the first group. When we got back in the car, he asked me who I thought I was talking to. ‘Why, the audience,’ I replied. ‘You’re not,’ he said. ‘You’re back talking to the few people who made the fuss in the first group. You were going on and on about things these people didn’t care about.’ He was right—I was reacting to the loud group from before.”

So, as a leader, how do you engage the silent minority? How do you make sure you are hearing them? Walk around to the cubicles or office spaces of co-workers or subordinates; sit down in the staff room and have a cup of coffee—people tell you things they wouldn’t in a more formal setting if you just make yourself available.

And next time you’re ready to act on feedback, make sure it’s not just the vocal minority that’s talking.

By Erin Wolf