04/08/2025

Four Things Your Employees Won’t Tell You

Marlene Chism offers strategies to get them talking

It's not always leaders who avoid difficult conversations. Employees also avoid by not telling their leaders the truth. A 2023 survey by SHRM (Society for Human Resource Management) found that 58 percent of employees avoid giving honest feedback to their bosses because they don’t believe it will make a difference. Fear of retaliation, power dynamics or simply not wanting to “rock the boat” prevents employees from speaking up. What if you could get inside the minds of your employees? Here are four things your employees won’t tell you, but I will.

You’re confusing me

CEOs at fast-growing startups change priorities weekly or monthly. One week, the priority is sales; the next, it’s product development. When employees work hard on initiatives only to see them abandoned without explanation, they lose motivation, and chaos quickly follows.

Change is inevitable, but whiplash isn’t. If employees don’t see the logic behind shifts, they disengage and lose meaning. Employees don’t need all the details, but they do need to understand why changes are happening. A study by McKinsey found that employees who find meaning in their work are five times more likely to stay engaged.

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