Just because no one pushes back does not mean everyone agrees. Silence in meetings gets mistaken for consent all the time, but it usually reflects uncertainty, fear or resignation. When people sense that disagreeing might cost them your approval, trust or future opportunities, they default to staying quiet. Especially when the person they’d have to disagree with is you. The boss.
Real collaboration requires different views. Disagreement is not dysfunction. It is a sign that people are thinking critically instead of blindly following direction. The more consistently voices go unheard, the more surface-level your decisions become. People might execute your plan, but they are no longer bringing their best thinking to the table.
Over time, this creates a pattern of disengagement. People start showing up less as themselves and more as who they think you want them to be. That might keep things smooth on the surface, but it also blocks the kind of truth that helps teams grow. If no one feels comfortable disagreeing with you, you’ll never really know what’s missing.
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