We’ve all noticed it. Maybe we’ve even felt it ourselves. Something feels off…but no one says a word. The meeting moves forward, heads nod, decisions get made. Yet, underneath it all, there’s hesitation, concern, even disagreement that never surfaces. It looks like alignment. But sometimes, it’s something far more dangerous. Strategic silence can cripple an organization.

In this conversation on the Leading with Instinct podcast, Katie Navarra-Bradley, Professional Facilitator and Leadership Coach with Katie the Coach, and Ginny Telego, President of Collaboration Partners, unpack the concept of “strategic silence,” inspired by a Benjamin Laker article in Forbes Magazine on why employees stop speaking up and why leaders often miss it.

Strategic silence is a hidden cost in organizations, from lost trust to wasted time and massive financial impact. And it can happen to leaders as well as employees, in themselves, and in how they encourage their team to share and engage.

Takeaways

– Strategic silence isoften self-protection from risk, judgment, or consequence

– When leaders ignore or dismiss input, people stop speaking up altogether

– Silence in teams creates hidden costs such as lost time, poor decisions, and damaged trust

– People may withhold ideas out of fear, especially in environments of uncertainty (like AI and job security)

– Leaders must actively notice who isn’t speaking as well as who is

– Asking better questions (“What are we missing?”) invites real input vs. surface-level agreement

– Horses model shared awareness, where everyone notices, and every signal matters

– When concerns are acknowledged, confidence and trust in leadership increase

– Internalizing unspoken concerns drains energy and impacts performance

The Leading With Instinct Podcast is brought to you by Collaboration Partners and KatieTheCoach.com.

Chapters

00:48 Introduction

02:47 Horses Speak Their Minds

10:32 AI’s Influence on Strategic Silence

13:02 The Cost of Strategic Silence

21:00 Encouraging Sharing

27:11 Noticing Tensions and Risks

32:40 Listen to the Silence

37:59 Closing Thoughts

Helpful Links:

Katie Navarra-Bradley, Katie The Coach: https://katiethecoach.com/

Ginny Telego, Collaboration Partners: https://www.thecollaborationpartners.com/