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Sometimes, you must speak up to maintain self-worth. There will be consequences which you need to prepare for and accept as part and parcel of deciding to speak out.
ether you take a stand on something is entirely up to you. Only you can decide that. But how you challenge convention can lower or increase the chances of continuing to earn a pay check.
Sometimes, some situation really offends your values or sense of self. You feel the urge to speak up. But, if you can, spend a few minutes before you do so, deciding whether to go ahead.
As I mentioned in the last post, sometimes you need to confront an issue. It takes guts, but it also requires skill if you want to minimize the damage to your career.
Consequences of Taking a Stand Sometimes, you must speak up to maintain self-worth. In previous posts, we’ve discussed how to do that. However, no matter how successfully you pilot through your initial conversation, there will be consequences which you need to prepare for and accept as part and parcel of deciding to speak out. Consequences you might face Depends on your boss and how open your company is to change. The following list is generally in order of severity. What consequences you have to undergo will depend on how big the problem that you raise and how much your boss and/or company wants to avoid dealing with it. This list is adapted from the one published in Creating the Innovation Culture: Leveraging Visionaries Dissenters and Other Useful Troublemakers in Your Organization, Chapter Five. Ignore. Silence—a powerful weapon. When you raise the issue, no one replies. The conversation continues as if you’d never spoken. Made invisible. Funny things start to happen. Somehow, your name gets left off distribution lists. Important and interesting work is re-assigned. Decisions are taken without your input. Forbid. If you continue to push your unpopular views, your boss will say: “Focus on assigned projects, not on the…