Top tips to overcome terminal politeness

Advice from Dr Colm Foster, Director of Executive Education, Irish Management Institute. Henry Evans is co-author of this article.

In many organisations, authentic, robust debate and challenge have been replaced by what we call ‘terminal politeness’. How can you recognise leadership opportunities when people are being so polite that serious issues never come to the surface?

People often avoid having the most important conversations, even when such avoidance can damage their organisation or ...