In most workplaces, silence feels safer than speaking up.
You nod along in meetings, agree with the consensus and swallow the objection forming at the back of your throat. After all, nobody gets into trouble for agreeing.
But what happens when your boss is pushing for a direction you don’t believe in? Or when the group seems united behind a mistake, except you’re the lone dissenting voice?
Should you raise your hand and risk being labelled “difficult”, or do you keep your thoughts to yourself and hope for the best?
I think of the Titan submersible disaster in 2023, where OceanGate engineers repeatedly raised safety concerns about the vessel’s design.
One was even dismissed after refusing to stay silent. Leadership pressed ahead, dismissing warnings and prioritising innovation over oversight. In the end, the implosion claimed five lives.
Of course, most workplace disagreements don’t carry life-or-death consequences. But the principle still applies: When the unspoken rules of hierarchy and harmony make disagreeing feel like a breach of etiquette, errors may go unchallenged.
I’ve seen both ends of the extreme at work – offices where everyone nods politely, as well as offices where disagreements spill out freely. One feels safe but stagnant; the other feels tense but alive.
So, which makes for a healthier workplace?
IS SILENCE GOLDEN?
There’s a reason silence prevails in many offices. From childhood, many of us were taught that politeness begins with deference, especially towards authority.
Questioning a superior can be perceived as a sign of disrespect. Disagreeing with colleagues risks coming across as combative. And so, the easiest path is to keep your head down.
Once, we had a senior creative who insisted on a bad pun for an advertisement. Not only was the pun lame, but it was a play on words that had an offensive meaning in another language.
When we brought it up, we were simply brushed aside as being oversensitive. Despite our admittedly mild protests, he went ahead.
No surprise to anyone except the senior creative, the ad went out, went viral but in the catastrophic way no one wants and the client went ballistic.
