The value
RG People are sharp, insightful and speak their mind. They discuss, debate, share views, listen and develop their position. They are confident but never bullish.
Their passion for the best outcome means that they don't always agree but they respect diversity, differences and decisions made after debate. They give feedback freely and take feedback gracefully.
To think about
This is often misunderstood as "Speak up to your manager" or "Speak up to the leadership team". That is definitely a part of it, but actually, We Speak up is much wider. It's about your everyday work, speaking up as routine in every meeting, in every interaction. It applies as much to colleagues as it does to someone senior to you.
We Speak up is a close cousin of We Love our jobs and people who live We Speak up well tend to also do well with We Push the boundaries.
You're here at RG for a reason. You've got the right attitude, the right know-how and you've got a personality that we know will shine at RG. So don't sit in silence, speak up when you have something to say.
If you like something or someone's way of doing things celebrate that, tell people and share best practice. If you don't, and you think it is wrong, challenge it.
How to live the value
When We Speak up we...
- Praise good behaviour and don't be afraid to copy it
- Say what you think and challenge bad behaviour
- Encourage others to speak their mind
- Remember it isn't just what you say but how you say it. Be self aware
- We're open to feedback and embrace the opinions of others
- Show your personality
Further reading
We are not alone in believing this is important culturally and therefore valuable to nurture.
Creating a culture where people can and do Speak Up as routine is very much part of Margaret Heffernan's book Beyond Measure. It is specifically the subject of a book called Radical Candor by ex-Googler Kim Scott.
Kim Scott's book is summarised in this presentation:
Patrick Lencioni also talks often about this in all of his books. In The Five Dysfunctions of a Team, he discusses how when you have built "vulnerability-based trust" you can then have "robust ideological debate".