In essence, voice cultivation is about taking good ideas, making them better, and turning them into reality. Teams can play a critical role in amplifying, legitimising, developing, troubleshooting, and exemplifying other team members’ ideas and helping to drive them to implementation.
To foster this kind of environment, leaders can employ tactics such as:
- Modelling behaviours that amplify, develop, legitimise, exemplify, and troubleshoot ideas
- Share information on voice cultivation tactics (eg. amplifying, developing, legitimising, exemplifying, and troubleshooting) and encourage team members to use them
- Recognizing and naming these tactics when they are used
- Rewarding collaboration between team members that develops and progresses other’s ideas
Not all voice cultivation tactics will be appropriate for every situation, so leaders should be sensitive to this and help team members which are the most effective tactics to use in different circumstances. It’s also important to take the environment into context: in particular, the most effective tactics are those that consider why the idea was rejected in the first place.
Leadership encompasses a wide range of challenges and opportunities, from voice cultivation to empowering team members, and many more. If you’re not sure how you’re tracking as a leader, book a free peak performance strategy review to check in on your challenges and areas of improvement.
