Anton Guinea
Entrepreneur, Speaker, bestselling author, and founder of The Guinea Group of Companies. For over 15 years, Anton has helped leaders move their teams to become psychologically safe, physically safe and overall better versions of themselves.
Have you ever looked around a meeting room and wondered why the same few people speak while everyone else stays quiet, even when you know they have something valuable to say?
I’ve seen that scene play out in workplaces for years. We bring smart people together, we talk a lot, we share updates and reports, yet the real conversations that shift thinking, invite challenge, and build confidence sit just under the surface. Teams aren’t short on information. They’re short on the kind of honest, respectful dialogue that makes people feel safe, backed, and trusted.
Why conversations shape empowered teams
On paper, empowerment can look like job descriptions, delegations, and RACI charts. In practice, empowerment is built through the small, daily signals you send in conversation. Do people feel comfortable saying, “I’m not sure”? Can they raise a concern about safety without worrying about payback? Are new ideas welcomed, or quietly shut down with a look?
Every chat at someone’s desk, every stand-up, every toolbox talk is a chance to either open the door or close it. When leaders create space for people to express doubt, share ideas, and question decisions, teams feel trusted. When leaders rush, interrupt, or talk over the top of people, teams learn to stay quiet.
If you want a deeper look at how safe dialogue strengthens relationships, you might find my thoughts on safe conversations and trust helpful. In that piece, I explore how one honest conversation can repair months of tension.
What empowered team conversations look like
Empowered teams don’t magically appear. You hear them before you see them. Their conversations tend to have a few clear qualities:
- Everyone gets a voice – not just the loudest or most senior people.
- Questions are welcome – even if the answer is, “I don’t know yet, let’s find out.”
- Disagreement is safe – people can say, “I see it differently,” without getting shut down.
- Listening is active – phones down, laptops shut, real attention given.
I unpack some of these elements in more detail in my article on meaningful leadership conversations, where I share simple tips leaders can use in their next one-on-one or team meeting.
Listening is a huge part of this. Leaders often tell me they are “good listeners”, yet their teams tell a very different story. If you’re curious about how to sharpen this skill, I break down five practical approaches in my piece on key listening skills for leaders. Even a small change in listening habits can shift the way your team engages with you.
Creating a culture of open communication at work
One good conversation can change a relationship. A pattern of good conversations can change a culture. If you want a team where people feel empowered, respected, and safe to speak up, you need consistent practices that make open communication part of “how we do things here”.
Some simple, repeatable practices I often introduce with leadership teams include:
- Check-in questions at the start of meetings – short prompts like “What’s one thing on your mind today?” help people warm up their voice.
- Speak-up rounds – before you close a decision, go around the room and ask each person, “What are we missing?”
- Regular safety conversations – five-minute chats that focus on hazards, near misses, and ways to make the workday safer.
If you’re working on this in your team right now, you might also enjoy my reflections on psychological safety and stress and practical strategies for psychological safety. Both pieces connect directly to how conversations shape wellbeing and performance.
For organisations ready to go deeper, I built our psychological safety program to help leaders practise these skills together. We focus heavily on real conversations – the ones that happen in pre-starts, workshops, and boardrooms across Australia every day.
Team engagement through meaningful dialogue
Engagement is often treated as a survey result or a dashboard metric. For me, engagement is deeply personal. It lives in the way a team member feels when they walk through the door on a Monday morning. Do they feel seen? Do they feel safe enough to say, “Something’s not right here”? Do they feel invited into the conversation about where the team is heading?
Meaningful dialogue is one of the strongest levers you have. In my piece on driving engagement as a leader, I share how simple questions and follow-through can shift engagement more than any poster or campaign ever will.
Engagement surveys can help as well, if you treat them as a starting point for conversation rather than a compliance exercise. I talk about this in giving employees a voice through surveys, where I explain how the real value comes from what you say and do after the results arrive.
Where to from here
If this article has stirred something for you, my invitation is simple: start with one conversation. That might be a one-on-one where you say, “I realise I’ve been talking a lot in our meetings. I’d really like to hear more from you.” It might be a team conversation where you ask, “What would make it easier for you to speak up here?”
If you’d like support to build this into the fabric of your organisation, I’d love to talk. You can book a session with me to work with your leadership team, or simply get in touch to share what’s happening in your workplace right now.
For teams ready to strengthen psychological safety before the year wraps up, our speak safe program is a practical way to build the habits and conversations that keep people safe and engaged. We focus heavily on real scenarios from workplaces, so your leaders can practise in a way that feels real, not theoretical.
Empowered teams don’t appear by chance. They grow conversation by conversation, question by question, and moment by moment. The good news is that you don’t need to overhaul everything at once. You just need to choose the next conversation you’re willing to have, and show up with curiosity, care, and courage.
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If you would like to learn more about Anton or The Guinea Group, please click here to book into Anton’s calendar, to:
UPGRADE your Mindset
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