Fear and blame.

Hands up if you've ever heard someone say:

"We don't have a fear-and-blame culture."

And keep them up if the reaction of the 'doers' was to roll their eyes and mutter something sarcastic.

It's a nice phrase to trot out at a senior leadership conference or to write in your 'best employer of 2020' application, but if you have to say it, it's probably not true.

And repeating the mantra won't make it any more true.

In fact, people might respect you more if you were honest and admitted that there is blame and where the boundaries lie.  At least in that scenario, the individual knows where they stand.

Instead, we often have the jarring dissonance of hearing our leaders say one thing and seeing them act entirely differently.

As a leader (especially a senior leader):

When you stand at the front of a room and tell the assembly that there is no fear-and-blame, look at their faces.  If they mostly appear too scared to disagree... you have a problem.

Or when you ask for questions to be submitted, get very little back, and your reaction is to assume people are just too lazy to respond,.  Chances are, the lesson has already been learned; that the safest thing is to stay quiet and avoid too much notice.

All this is amplified in organisations that ask for continual feedback but never make any real changes based on it.

When you do this you're asking people to take a risk with no hope of it leading to improvement.  Is it any wonder that employees are reluctant to raise their heads above the parapet?

(Un?)Fortunately, for those trying to maintain the illusion, there's almost always a corporate pet willing to play the game.  They'll complete every survey (positively), prepare (safe) questions for events and can be generally relied upon to involve themselves in anything under the banner of 'give-back' (because delivery is rarely what counts at appraisal time).

1. If something is raised be honest in your answer - don't be a politician.  If the honest answer is that nothing is going to be done - just say it.  People will cope.  And your reputation will rise amongst the troops.  Of course, if your immediate thought on reading this is "I don't care what they think of me" then I'd suggest you're not suitable to lead a team.
2. If less-than-glowing feedback is received, privately or publically, take it seriously, ESPECIALLY if you disagree.  Immediately dismissing the point, refusing to acknowledge the validity of it in any way, or putting down/attacking the person who raised it is the management equivalent of taking your ball home when it's your turn to play in goal.
3. Respect that someone took the time to respond, your reaction might determine if they ever repeat the exercise (or at least repeat it honestly - they may just learn to play the game.)
4. Be upfront about what may or may not be done in response.  The natural assumption is that once something has been raised the process of resolving it has begun.  If nothing is going to happen - say so.

The best information comes directly from the front line and those relationships must be cultivated and maintained.

IT folk aren't always the most naturally confident, but they do learn fast.  Don't let the lesson be to stay silent.