The Manager   A department manager in company #1 wants input from the employees.
This manager told the employees, "I want to know what is going on, good or bad.
I want to know your thoughts.
" Some employees took her at face value and came in.
The conversations tended to be about things that are going wrong, But hey! That is how you find out.
They have a conversation and the employee goes back to work.
The manager thinks, "Life is good! What a leader I am!"   Over time, the numbers of conversations diminish.
The manager thinks that this means that there must be fewer things to complain about.
I must be doing something right.
  The thing that is curious is that the numbers are down.
The people seem to be more irritable.
The manager asks them about it.
The employees respond that everything is OK or they tell the manager about a small problem that occurred one day last week.
  The VP of Operations in company #2 wants an early warning of problems.
He knows that it is easier to correct small problems early on before they develop into big problems.
He doesn't hear about many problems.
When he asks, he is told that everything is running fine.
  Big problems continue to explode into view.
  What is wrong with this picture? If everything is good, then why is there a drop off in productivity and morale? Why do people refuse to alert the VP when something is starting to go wrong? I discussed this situation with the employees.
What I found would be quite a shock to the managers.
The Employees In company #1, a newer employee wanted to take the manager up on the offer to speak with her.
The longer tenured employees advised her not to do it.
But the new employee being a new employee, thought that they were just being contrary old-timers and that she could change things.
The manager was pleased that she came in...
right up to the point that she described a problem.
Then things changed.
The manager became an agent of the inquisition and grilled the employee relentlessly.
The employee reported afterward, that she felt like the prime suspect in a murder investigation.
She reported that the manager pointed out all of the things that the employee did wrong and gave the impression that the whole thing was probably the employee's fault.
The manager said that she would look into the situation but no apparent action was ever taken.
At company #2, a professional employee told me, "If you give bad news to that *&%#$ (the VP), you could wind up cleaning toilets on the third shift.
" A curious thing happened when I discussed this with the VP.
He shouted that he does not shoot the messenger.
His face got red.
He rose up to his full height, clenched his fist, pointed his jaw at me and slowly moved across the room toward me.
If I were his employee, I would have been intimidated and I would never again have made the mistake of telling him something he didn't want to hear.
The Problem Both of these managers had good intentions.
Unfortunately, the way they handled these situations undermined the good they wanted to accomplish.
If employees avoid using your open door policy at all cost, the manager is not getting the desired results.
If no employee would risk being the messenger, the VP will never find out about emerging problems.
How do you know if the messages you think you are sending to your employees are the same messages they receive? In both cases, the verbal message was clear.
However, the message the employees received as a result of acting on these messages sent an entirely different message that was much more clearly received and created a much bigger impact.
The most important step is to know for yourself what you really want.
There are things that you really want based on your values and who you are (gut).
There are other things that you think are good management things to do (mind).
When you are planning to communicate to employees, think it through.
This means thinking about what happens if the message is accepted as you intended.
What will happen and how will you handle it.
If the message is acted on in a way you didn't intend, what will the unintended consequences look like and how would you handle it.
Then check this intellectual exercise against your gut to see how it would feel.
Then decide how to proceed.
If you say that you want one thing but your behavior demonstrates that want something else, the mixed message forces employees not to trust what you say.
This is not healthy for you or the organization.
You may think that you want employee input.
But if you're offended when challenged or you can't stand interruptions or don't want to deal with piddly little things they might bring up, the employees will experience your displeasure.
Don't delude yourself into thinking that you can hide it from them.
Don't offer an open door policy if you can't gracefully handle the fallout.
The Solution 1) How do you know if you have a problem? The quickest way to find out is to ask.
The best situation is that there is at least one person in the organization who will tell you the truth, even if it is something that you don't want to hear.
Then ask this person.
When you ask, you must be open to receiving the information.
You must be prepared for the response to be difficult to hear.
Your normal reaction may be to get angry or become defensive.
Be prepared for your reaction and stifle it.
1a) If you do not have a courageous truth-teller in your organization, then select the person most likely to tell you the truth if encouraged.
Tell them that you think that you are creating problems that you are not aware of and that you need their help.
Again, the information may be difficult to hear or you may not believe it.
If you think that you may have difficulty maintaining your emotional equilibrium, you should warn the person in advance that you may revert to old behavior.
Ask the person to remind you that you asked to hear this straight information If you make employees uncomfortable they will not give you a straight answer.
They will tell you what you want to hear.
You must reassure them that you do need to know and why.
2) Then listen! 3) Ask clarifying questions.
"What did I do?" "How did that make you feel?" "how would you prefer that I respond?" 4) Do not respond.
Do not get defensive.
Do not justify your actions.
Do not try to convince the person that he/she misunderstood.
Just take it all in.
5) Thank the person for taking the risk.
6) Then go away and think about it.
Why might they have thought this? Only after you understand their point of view should you look at solutions.
7) Next day, thank the person again for being helpful.
The person took a risk and may be worried about ramifications.
Put his/her mind at ease.
8) Now you are prepared to look at how you would like things to be.
How should I move forward? What should I do differently? CAUTION: If you will not like the answer and will not act on the information, DO NOT ASK THE QUESTION! My recommendation is that you picture in your mind how you want your organization to operate.
Then compare that to the reality of how it operates.
If there is a difference, then you have a problem.
The way an organization operates is created by the top of the organization.
If you have people that report to you, you are at the top of a organization regardless of where you are in a hierarchy.
You can change how it operates! Find out what the problem is, even if it is you.
Then make the changes to steer your organization in the right direction.