Are you mistaking silence for alignment?

You roll out a new strategy in a meeting.

No objections.
No questions.
Just nods and silence.

Everyone’s on board, right?
Maybe not.

Silence doesn’t equal alignment.

It can mean:

People don’t fully understand the direction.
They don’t feel safe raising concerns.
They’re not invested enough to speak up.

As a leader, your job isn’t just to get through the meeting.

It’s to ensure real alignment.

So the next time it’s quiet in a meeting, try this:
✅ Ask: “What would make this plan stronger?”
✅ Normalize questions: “What’s unclear or needs more discussion?”
✅ Watch for signals—are people truly engaged or just going along?

High-performing teams don’t just comply.

They commit.

If you’re only hearing silence, it’s time to dig deeper.