How Employee Suggestion Programs Improve Vertical Communication

The premise to the popular TV show “Undercover Boss” is pretty simple - a high ranking executive disguises himself as a front-line employee to see how the company really operates. While disguised, the inefficiencies and hard work some employees do on a daily basis are revealed. In the end, the boss fixes the problems and rewards the previously overlooked employees.

It’s a heart-warming crowd pleaser of a show, but it does illustrate a problem that exists in many organizations. It’s an issue with something I like to call “vertical communication.” With all the improvements in communication channels, most communication still occurs on a horizontal level, and most of the focus on technology tools and improved processes focuses on horizontal issues: collaboration, project teams, etc.

Good information still has a lot of trouble moving upward within an organizational chart.

The Two Different Kinds of Communication

There are essentially two kinds of communication in an organization: Horizontal communication and vertical communication.

Horizontal communication (also known as lateral) is between peers. Email is the defacto tool for this, but given the clutter of the modern-day inbox chat systems like Slack and Hipchat have taken root. For flat organizations in progressive industries, this works just fine as it’s not just managers who get to own decisions and they can move forward with fewer checks and balances than a regulated industry.

But for bigger organizations and companies in legally-constrained verticals like healthcare, finance or government, horizontal communication between peers is not enough and current systems like email are not sufficient for vertical communication.

The filters of upward communication become hindrances.

The Trouble With Vertical Communication

Up until late last year Larry Ellison, Chairman of Oracle. Larry Ellison oversaw a company which sold $38 billion in product last year and has over a 120,000 employees. How many direct reports could Ellison handle? Five? Ten? If he has ten direct reports, those ten reports each are responsible for managing 10,000 employees. Time being a limited resource, this necessitates the creation of layer upon layer of middle management - ten reports have ten reports who have ten reports, all the way down. As Jack Donaghy pointed out to Kenneth on the TV Show 30 Rock, “Kenneth, there is about 500 layers of management separating us.”

This pyramid-style organization is terrific for communicating information downward. When Ellison sent an email, the information in it cascaded throughout the organization and people moved. Because of that, no one would argue Oracle is anything but a high performing, astounding machine.

But this communication structure is bad for communicating information upwards. When Ellison made a decision, it was based on the reports of ten people. How could he be sure he’s not missing critical information? Was he fully aware of hidden problems and inefficiencies? Was he overlooking innovative ideas, markets, and solutions?

Above all, how could he set things up so good information, regardless of the source, filtered up through these roadblocks and made it to his desk?

Communicating Up -- The Tools You Need

Good information can be communicated “up” in an organization with the right tools. Excellent idea management systems are a great tool for this, and many of them exist already. But which one to buy?

Good systems share three characteristics:

1) The system makes things transparent

Former Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis said, “Sunlight is the best of disinfectants.” Undercover Boss works because it brings sunlight and attention to issues. Problems can’t be fixed until they are known to be problems.

For this reason organizations should make information more freely accessible. Good systems allow for other people to be made aware of good ideas. Without a lot of effort, managers should be able to find out what projects other groups are working on.

2) Harness the wisdom of the crowd

In his book “The Wisdom of Crowds,” James Surowiecki tells of a contest where contestants were to guess the number of ping pong balls in a giant container. The guesses ran the gamut, but when the guesses on the entries were added up and averaged out, the number was exactly right.

This insight is the thinking behind the ubiquitous “Like” button and upvoting system in today’s social media. When ideas are placed in an idea management system like an employee suggestion platform, rather than being dependent on a few gatekeepers, upvotes and comments help good ideas get noticed. As such, a good system for vertical communication should harness the power of collective intelligence. If everyone in the organization thinks it is a good idea, it likely is.

3) Idea Tracking

So the problem has been identified and the best solution has been picked and is supported by many individual members of the organization. What next? How does the CEO know about the status of implementation? Checking in on the status is just as error-prone as the existing system.

A good idea management system should have a good way of reporting on the status of implementation. Where does it stand in the process? Did it save money? Is it moving forward? Whose hands is it in? Have the proper people been informed? Without someone shepherding the idea along, it is likely to languish and die. Managers should have an easy way to check on the status of implementation of the idea.

For example, at Vocoli we’ve built in a system of reporting which points out the top idea submitters, most popular ideas, overdue items, ROI metrics and more. All of this puts information at management’s fingertips, no more lost ideas. Employees on the ground level can be a tremendous source of information and insight. By following these three rules in implementing an idea management system, your organization will benefit immensely and won’t have to rely on Undercover Boss tactics.

(But we are looking forward to seeing the disguises and fake mustaches the bosses always dress up in)

Rich Kneece is the CEO of Vocoli. He loves seeing organizations flourish by building teams built to last.