In cross-functional meetings, silence can be deceptive.

I’ve seen it many times – leaders walking out of a room feeling aligned, only to find out weeks later that there was no real agreement at all. The signs were there: no questions, no pushback, a few polite nods. BUT just because no one speaks up doesn’t mean they’re on board.

Often, silence isn’t consensus. It’s hesitation because of confusion, or worse …

Sometimes people stay quiet because they’re unsure whether their input is welcome, or even safe to provide. Others think their concerns won’t change the outcome, so they hold back. And in many cases, the loudest voices set the tone while others lay dormant. That’s why one of the most important leadership disciplines is learning to read silence as a signal – not of agreement, but of potential misalignment.

When I work with executive teams, I always encourage them to ask two questions when things seem too smooth:

• “What questions haven’t we asked yet?”
• “What’s not being said that probably should be?”

These aren’t just feel-good questions, they’re practical ones. The best decisions don’t happen in the absence of dissent – they happen because of it.

There has been a lot more research into psychological safety in recent years and Harvard Business School published an article based on a review of the research. It outlined four ways high-performing teams build psychological safety: bonding as a team, sharing knowledge openly, designing for shared decision making, and surfacing conflict productively. These aren’t just nice-to-haves – they’re essentials for execution. (It’s a great piece – worth a read. Four Steps to Building Psychological Safety)

Because if you want execution that sticks, you need more than a good plan. You need a room where people feel safe enough to tell the truth.

So next time your team seems unusually quiet, don’t assume everything’s on track. Assume instead that there’s something important that hasn’t been said … and create the space for it to surface.

You might just uncover the insight that keeps your next decision from derailing.