Coaching practices for Raising Concerns at Work
Describe almost anything you are working through and IX Coach finds the practices whose real-world fit is closest. For Raising Concerns at Work, these are the strongest matches in the current practice library.
Does this sound like the set of challenges you might be facing?
- I’ve told my people a hundred times they can disagree with me, but they still don’t
- My boss keeps checking in and hovering over my work, and it makes me feel untrusted
- I keep dropping problems on my boss’s desk and waiting for them to tell me what to do, and I can feel it reads as me not owning my work
- Someone on my team is clearly going through something heavy and I’ve just been carrying on talking deliverables like nothing’s wrong
- My boss is clearly frustrated and I can feel it, but naming their feeling out loud to someone above me feels presumptuous, even risky
Practices that may help
- Teach speak-up skills, not just encourage speaking up
Give team members specific language for raising concerns, not just permission to raise them.
Psychological Safety in Teams - Send proactive, brief status updates
Update your manager on important work before they ask — in the format and frequency they actually want.
Managing Up: Practical Skills for Working with Your Boss - Bring a proposed solution when you bring a problem
Describe the problem and your recommended path before asking for a decision.
Managing Up: Practical Skills for Working with Your Boss - Show up for the person, not just the deliverable
Acknowledge what is happening in someone’s life when it is clearly affecting them — before addressing the work.
Caring Personally: The Foundation of Radical Candor - Use labeling across power asymmetries — with care
Labeling your senior’s frustration is more delicate than labeling a peer’s — name the stakes, not just the feeling.
Labeling Emotions in Negotiation, Made Practical - Understand the constraints your manager operates under
Ask about the pressures and constraints your manager faces — then factor them into your expectations and requests.
Managing Up: Practical Skills for Working with Your Boss - Appoint an explicit devil’s advocate role
Give one person the formal job of arguing against the plan — making dissent structural, not personal.
Red Teaming: Stress-Testing Plans Before They Fail - Respond non-punitively to mistakes
When someone brings you a problem or mistake, make your first move curiosity, not blame.
Psychological Safety in Teams - Disagree with your manager constructively
State your disagreement clearly, give your reasoning, and then commit to the decision — without sacrificing either honesty or loyalty.
Managing Up: Practical Skills for Working with Your Boss - Apply three good things to work contexts specifically
Use the exercise to rewire what you notice about your work day — contribution, competence, and collaboration.
Three Good Things: The Evidence-Based Gratitude Practice
Related concerns
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Update your manager on important work before they ask — in the format and frequency they actually want.
Send proactive, brief status updates
- How Do I Determine My Bosss Position On Transgender Rights
State your disagreement clearly, give your reasoning, and then commit to the decision — without sacrificing either honesty or loyalty.
Disagree with your manager constructively
- How Do You Explain To Your Boss Theyre Wrong Without Making Them Feel Threatened
Give team members specific language for raising concerns, not just permission to raise them.
Teach speak-up skills, not just encourage speaking up
- How To Address Bullying In The Workplace As A Manager
Give team members specific language for raising concerns, not just permission to raise them.
- How To Deal With Bad Treatment At Work
Use the exercise to rewire what you notice about your work day — contribution, competence, and collaboration.
Apply three good things to work contexts specifically
- How To Tell Boss About Pregnancy
Update your manager on important work before they ask — in the format and frequency they actually want.
Describe your situation in your own words to search the complete practice library.