Description
Book SynopsisSilence always has something to say it's never neutral and speaks volumes if people are willing to hear. Our response to silence is often to dismiss or end it, to block it out with noise. Instead, silence needs to be taken seriously. This book explores the importance of understanding silence and shows how we can move from merely listening to truly hearing those around us.
The interplay of voice and silence in organisational life is not straightforward. We can feel pressured to speak and compelled to keep our silence. Knowing how to read silence, to make sense of its generative and degenerative capacity, is a rarely developed skill among managers and leaders at all levels who have been brought up to see silence as evidence of compliance or a weakness to be addressed. But it is a critical skill for managers and employees alike. Written by two experts in organisational development, this book explores different types of silence and their implications for organisational practice,
Table of Contents
Part I. Seven shades of workplace silence 1. An introduction to the seven shades of silence 2. The seven shades of silence in action Part II. Creating and sustaining climates of silence and voice 3. On silence 4. The meaning of silence 5. Silence as ritual 6. Self-silencing 7. Silence at work 8. Silence is a password 9. Lessons for corporate life (on sustaining climates of silence and voice) 10. Silence descends Part III. Thirty-five voices… and beyond 11. Thirty-five voices 12. Some notes on method and practical application Part IV. Dialogue retethered 13. Putting dialogue to work
