The Tyranny of the Vocal But Minor Voice

Good leaders work hard to create the conditions where everyone on the team feels comfortable and safe offering their candid views. 

Allowing a space for all voices, views, and concerns helps to create a more inclusive workplace. The openness of a team that feels supported in expressing opinions not only improves morale, but also leads to higher-quality decisions. As worthy as the goal of an inclusive and open team dynamic might be, however, it also has a downside. 

When team members feel fully comfortable expressing their opinions and views, they naturally do so, often loudly and insistently. Good leaders listen, consider what has been said, and thank team members for their contributions. 

However, some team members interpret the desire for openness and support as a license to apply more pressure to change what they believe is a flaw in how things are run or, say, a social position the organization needs to take. If not kept in check, their advocacy can become exceedingly vocal, even though it runs counter to what the leader believes is best for the team, conflicts with the organization’s values, or has no place in the team discussion. 

Because these team members feel empowered and because they become emotionally charged by an issue they feel deeply connected to, they continue to push the leader and the team to make a change. Unfortunately, for the leader and the team, colleagues who are emotionally charged can lose perspective. Rational arguments and reasoning no longer work with them. They are on a mission and won’t take “No” for an answer. 

This creates quite a mess. 

If placated, given a forum, or mollified in any way, emotionally charged colleagues get even louder and encourage others to do so, as well. They cross lines, even hurling vicious and personal attacks at anyone who doesn’t agree with them. How did we ever get to this point? The answer is leadership — or a lack of it. 

Leaders who lack the courage to confront extreme advocacy and behavior inadvertently allow a vocal and minor voice to hold the team captive. The result is relationships that fray and a silent majority that stews about what is being said and tolerated. 

Creating an open and inclusive workplace doesn’t mean allowing a vocal minority to run over colleagues and stage an ongoing protest within the organization. Once a leader allows such behavior on any topic or by any team member, they will subject themselves and the team to this assault again and again, as other team members get behind a cause or outcome they feel strongly about. 

It is inevitable for social issues and advocacy to bleed into organizational life. But it is not inevitable for leaders to allow them to dominate the internal discussion. 

When any view sounds like a crusade, it needs to be negated. Leaders who believe they can appease this voice, reason people back to a rational discussion, or offer common sense solutions fail to recognize the tyranny of a minor voice fixated on battle. 

Vocal and unhappy people attract more unhappy people, who then become more vocal. A team can be turned upside down if those on the crusade are allowed a way into the everyday conversation. 

Unlike the crusaders, good leaders recognize that differences divide the team, while common values bind the team together. Celebrating what team members share in common is always the stronger move in organizations. 

Great organizations sustain themselves through quality work and high performance. They aren’t battlegrounds for highly complex social issues. Great leaders remind people about the values they share together and don’t give a voice to those people who want to divide and conquer.