And could they tell you?
And if they did, how would you react? A look, a sigh, or a pause can shape whether someone speaks up again. What goes unsaid can still affect the work.
You and your people spend hundreds of them at work.
You might arrive after a difficult morning, worried about someone at home or unsure what a change at work will mean for you. Those concerns do not disappear when you start working. The same is true for the people around you.
People do not have to share their private lives. But can they say, “I’m finding things difficult today,” or “I’m worried about this change,” without fearing how it will be received?
You cannot solve every worry. You can make it easier to ask for support, raise a concern, and have an honest conversation about what is needed.
Psychological safety is the shared belief that you can ask a question, admit a mistake, or raise a concern without being humiliated or punished for speaking up.
It makes room for honest conversations and clear responsibility. People still need to do their work. They also need to be able to say when they need help.
When concerns stay hidden, leaders can miss information they need. A deadline looks agreed. A mistake goes unreported. An idea never gets tested.
Research foundation: Amy Edmondson’s research on psychological safety and team learning ↗
In its study of effective teams, Google identified five important team dynamics. Psychological safety ranked first.
Could people ask questions, admit mistakes, and offer ideas without fearing how others would respond?
Read Google’s research ↗In its 2017 report, Gallup found that three in ten U.S. employees strongly agreed that their opinions counted at work. It estimated that, if this rose to six in ten, organisations could see:
These are potential organisational benefits described by Gallup. They are not measured results of a GestaltPower workshop.
Read Gallup’s research ↗These findings explain why speaking up deserves attention. We work with your team to decide what that means in your workplace.
In one technology company, people agreed to deadlines even when they had concerns. Some feared that saying no could put their jobs at risk. Their colleagues could not understand why commitments were followed by delays.
Workshops and advisory work helped bring both perspectives into the conversation. Alongside changes to local management and task planning, the teams worked on explaining what was possible and raising difficulties earlier.
Leaders also worked on receiving answers they had not expected. The aim was a more useful conversation: “Here is what we can do, here is the difficulty, and here is what we need to decide.”
An anonymised account from our work. The changes involved leadership and operational decisions as well as workshops. Client identity remains confidential.
We begin with the situations you want to change. Then we agree on the right workshop, coaching, or combination for you.
Speaking up in meetings. Raising concerns early. Handling disagreement. We design the session around the situations your team faces.
We may use our Castle Method to help people see the bigger picture, alongside exercises and conversations chosen for your team. Participants share different views and help shape the next steps.
Can you hear a concern without immediately defending the plan? Can you ask for help or say, “I got that wrong”?
Coaching gives you space to explore real situations from your working life. Together, we look at your reactions, practise difficult conversations, and identify what you want to do differently.
You can choose coaching on its own or alongside a workshop. Sessions can take place online or in person, by agreement.
Let’s talk about coaching ↗We discuss your challenges and goals, then agree on who needs to be involved.
Your workshop or coaching focuses on real situations and practical changes.
Agree what to review and when. Further workshops, coaching, and facilitated reviews can be arranged where useful.
Your people see different parts of the same business. We help them bring those views together and turn them into action.
Suhail Ghaus has worked as a leader, business adviser, coach, and facilitator across Scandinavia, the UAE, the UK, the USA, and Türkiye.
His background includes a BA in Business Administration from Niels Brock, four years of Gestalt therapy education and coaching education at Nordisk Gestalt Institute, and work as an IWI facilitator for workplace stress.
We bring facilitation, questions, and business experience. Your people bring the knowledge of their everyday work. Together, we examine what is happening and what could change.
Explore the Castle Method ↗No. We work with teams and organisations where people need to share information, make decisions, and work towards shared goals. Cultural differences may be relevant, but they are not a requirement.
The team workshops focus on working relationships, communication, and organisational development. Participants are not asked to disclose their private lives.
Not always, and we do not force it. We agree how participation will be supported and how findings will be reported. The format depends on the team and the situation.
No. It is one of our methods. We choose the approach around your goals and the people taking part.
No. We can start with one workshop or coaching. Any further work is agreed with you.
We agree what you want to change and what progress would look like. That could include concerns being raised earlier, clearer decisions, or agreed actions being completed. The team sets a review date to examine what changed and what still needs attention.
Let’s talk about the challenges you face and the goals you want to achieve.
Let’s talk ↗Or take the short team check ↗