CEO says Singaporeans are smart & don’t speak up because workplaces are not safe

SINGAPORE: The author and leadership expert Crystal Lim-Lange made the news recently when she explained that Singaporeans are smart enough to “read the room” in their workplaces, in that they don’t speak up as this carries risks to their careers. 

At Vogue Singapore’s Wellness Day on June 6, Ms Lim explained the “real reason Singaporeans don’t speak up.”

In a clip she posted on TikTok, Ms Lim calls Singaporeans “damn smart” because “they know that their workplaces are not safe enough to speak up.”

She explained that for people to speak up, there needs to be a hygiene factor, which is a feature of a job or workplace that makes an employee unhappy if it’s not present.  An example of this would be fair pay or a safe environment.

Sharing something personal is an interpersonal risk for workers, she added. 

“I take a risk to ask a question. I take a risk to say I don’t know. I take a risk to challenge my boss,” Ms Lim-Lange said, and these risks may result in reward or punishment.

“For a lot of us, it’s that we know that we’re going to get punished. That is why people don’t speak up,” she added.

Ms Lim-Lange also said that when she gets asked to do speak-up workshops in her line of work in the corporate world, she says no. 

She admitted that she can conduct these workshops, but they won’t be effective.

“The reason is that you need to fix your psychological safety, your inclusion, your learner safety, your contributor safety, and your challenger safety, and if you don’t do that, nobody will speak up,” she added.

What commenters are saying

Many people agreed with the points Ms Lim-Lange raised.

“They tell us to speak up, but the moment we do, somehow we become the problem. It’s exhausting,” one wrote.

“This is true, in my previous job, I spoke up and was banned from attending briefings… I rest my case,” added another.

“Workplace culture here favours obedience, while thoughtful dissent is often discouraged. So it’s better to be quiet, just agree along and not ask or speak up,” a TikTok user pointed out.

Ms Lim-Lange wrote the national bestselling book, Deep Human, hosts the Comfort and Growth podcast, and is the founder and CEO of Forest Wolf, a company that provides leadership training and strategic advising. /TISG

Read also: ‘The leadership is filled with their blood’: Singaporean shares harsh SME work experiences