KZN Lean Conference 2026
Thank you for inviting me to be part of your event!
Selected Slides
Workshop 1 (Better Metrics)
Workshop 2 (Psychological Safety)
https://www.leanblog.org/psychological-safety-lean/
Mark’s Books
(Free previews available)
Recording of Webinars on These Topics
Workshop Polling Results
What Keeps You From Speaking Up at Work?
- I am not afraid of speaking up
- None – very comfortable speaking up
- Nothing
- Fear that my contribution may be insignificant
- Feeling like i will be judged and not having enough experience
- Saying the wrong thing and being targetted by management
- Nothing
- None
- Nothing
- Negative impact on others
- If I know I have the solution, I will keep quiet and get it done. No problem speaking up if I don’t have a solution
- Thinking that what I say doesn’t matter
- I fear that I don’t have all the facts of why that decision was made. So I would generally wait and see.
- Not much, but sometimes knowing the idea will be shut down
- Speaking up means you are not aligned to the vision. Nothing will change anyway.
- Feeling like you are making excuses
- Being humiliated.
- I sometimes feel like an idiot, voicing my opinion.
- Im not afraid of speaking up.
- No personal benefit, it’s just a job.
- Nothing
- Sometimes not having all the information or facts so am scared to voice an opinion or thoughts.
- Nothing
- Not being heard
- Some senior managers are like children and saying no to a child will cause them to have a tantrum
- Fear of people taking what I say personally
- Saving energy
- Judgement and fear of response or reaction
- Futility
- Fear. Not feeling phycologically safe.
- “Ignored by my senior manager
- Doesn’t show interest
- Senior manager only looks for negatives”
- The fear of not knowing the response.
- Negativety
- Fear
- They are not listening even they lesson they don’t trust after that you get to work hard they look as you influence more workers in the field it not safety at all
- Speaking up will result in the action being assigned to me, whether that makes sense or not
- Past experience
- I’d rather not deal with the conflict
- Past experience
- Nothing, but there are others that are too afraid depending on their position and who they are talking to.
Other Resources
- Mark’s interview with Amy Edmondson on the Lean Blog Interviews Podcast
- The 4 Stages of Psychological Safety – book by Timothy R. Clark
- The Fearless Organization – book by Amy Edmondson
- About Google’s Project Aristotle
- Mark Graban blog posts on:
- Mark’s virtual Red Bead Game experience