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Plan how your team handles a concern

Test how an organization would handle a fictional concern

Go to the questions →About 10–15 minutes · Every question is optional

Check how a concern would reach someone who can act on it. Write who receives it, what they should do first, when they should respond and what happens if that route is unavailable or unsafe. Use a fictional example rather than a real report. A fictional team keeps finding that equipment is missing before a session. A staff member reports it to the operations role through the agreed channel. That role confirms receipt, checks whether the session can proceed safely and assigns a correction. A separate approved route is needed if the first receiver is unavailable or is part of the problem.

ForLeaders and teams checking whether a concern could actually travel — no real case details
TimeAbout 10–15 minutes
PrivacyThis site does not submit, store, or track your entries
What comes outA structured copy of your own entries

Before you type anything

What happens to what you type

This worksheet does not send, save, or track anything you type. Entries stay in the page until you clear it or leave. Your own browser, keyboard, or extensions may still process what you type, so do not enter anyone's name or identifying details.

What this tool can't do

  • Reporting an actual emergency, safeguarding concern, maltreatment allegation, legal matter, complaint, grievance, or confidential incident
  • Replacing a formal reporting, whistleblowing, human-resources, union, regulatory, clinical, or emergency channel
  • Scoring psychological safety, certifying culture, assessing an individual, or predicting team performance
  • Entering names, dates, locations, teams, organizations, case details, allegations, or other identifying or confidential information
  • A companion exercise, excerpt, or adaptation from the Routledge book

When to stop and use another route

  • Use the appropriate existing formal or emergency route for a real event. Do not delay a time-sensitive report in order to complete this worksheet.
  • If a route could expose a person to retaliation, breach confidentiality, bypass required safeguarding, or lose urgent information, stop and involve the responsible authority before testing it.

The questions

The whole exercise stays visible, and every question is optional. Start with the question that catches something useful, leave anything blank, and stop when the exercise stops helping.

Describe the concern and where it should go

Start with what the route carries, who notices first, where it goes, and what may make speaking costly.

  1. What kind of concern should this route handle?

    Choose a general category. Do not describe a real incident.

  2. Write a general role such as staff member, supervisor or participant. Do not name a person or organization.

    0 / 500 characters

  3. For example: the operations role through the team's approved reporting form. “Tell leadership” does not specify who receives it or how.

    0 / 2,000 characters

  4. What might make someone hesitate to use this route?

    Choose any relevant obstacles, such as fear of retaliation, uncertainty about confidentiality or a receiver who is involved in the problem.

Specify what the receiver must do

Make the first response, governing standard, owner, and response time observable.

  1. Describe an observable response: acknowledge, protect, clarify urgency, preserve information, explain next steps, or move to the required formal route.

    0 / 2,000 characters

  2. Name the applicable policy, threshold or formal process. This worksheet does not create or replace reporting requirements.

    0 / 2,000 characters

  3. Use a role and a bounded response time. Ownership without a deadline is a weak link.

    0 / 2,000 characters

Provide another route and a response to the sender

The route needs an alternative when the first receiver is unsafe or implicated, plus honest feedback within confidentiality limits.

  1. The alternate route may need to be outside the normal reporting line and must respect formal reporting requirements.

    0 / 2,000 characters

  2. Specify what can be shared within confidentiality and formal-process limits. Do not promise information the receiver is not allowed to disclose.

    0 / 2,000 characters

Try two fictional examples

Run a weak signal and a time-sensitive signal through the design to expose missing or broken links.

  1. For each fictional example, check the first receiver, first response, applicable rule, next responsible role, deadline, alternative route and response to the sender. Write the missing or broken steps.

    0 / 2,000 characters

What you have so far

Builds as you type

Your signal route

Your route, in your own words. Not a culture score, an incident report, or a recommendation.

SIGNAL → DESTINATION → RESPONSE → OWNER / DEADLINE → FEEDBACK
ALTERNATE ROUTE
BROKEN LINKS

This is a structured copy of your own entries. The tool does not score, interpret, diagnose, predict, or recommend.

Keep it or clear it

There is no submit button. Use Print if you choose to keep a copy, then Clear before leaving.

Before you use this to make a decision

Assign someone to correct each missing step and check it again. For a real concern, use the appropriate formal route without waiting to finish this worksheet. This is a planning exercise, not a reporting channel.

Sources and limitations

What the evidence does not establish

  • This is original website material based on public organizational research. It does not quote, summarize, or adapt the jointly authored Routledge book.
  • The cited studies do not establish that completing this worksheet changes psychological safety, voice, learning, safety, or performance.
  • Psychological safety concerns interpersonal risk; it does not remove standards, accountability, role boundaries, confidentiality, or consequences for harmful conduct.
  • A route that works for a weak operational signal may fail for a time-sensitive safety signal, a power imbalance, or a formal protected disclosure.
  • The exercise produces no score, certification, recommendation, or outcome promise. Every prompt is optional.

The sources behind the structure

Related writing

Keep the tool connected to the ideas behind it.

Nº 009If you left your organization tomorrow, what would remain standing?Nº 008Who holds a high-performance organization together, and who does it use up?Nº 007What happens to a leader's judgment when the heat rises?Nº 006Can a broken culture actually be repaired?Nº 005Can anyone in your building actually tell the truth?Nº 004Why do talent and money keep failing to build a culture?BookRead about the bookMarie Claire Bourque and Madeline Antony receive equal author credit.
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