WHY LEADERS SHOULD Encourage Employees to Rebel

Organisations see lacklustre results when workers feel bored and constrained. By encouraging employees to rebel against convention and bring their best selves to the office, leaders can strengthen workforce engagement – and the bottom line.

When Greg Dyke arrived at the BBC in early 2000, he found an organisation in desperate need of reform. After growing for decades, the BBC was struggling financially and had lost its creative edge. To signal the type of change he wanted to see, the new general director distributed yellow cards resembling the penalty cards used by soccer referees when there’s an infraction. When staff members saw someone trying to block a good idea, Dyke explained, they should wave the yellow card and speak up. He wanted employees to use the cards to “cut the crap and make it happen.” The unorthodox directive was just one of many initiatives Dyke launched to give BBC employees more freedom to speak up. And it worked: After just a year with Dyke at