Who do you think you're kidding?
Les Landes, APR
I help organizations create a high-performance culture of trust where people love to work and customers love doing business.
“The biggest problem with communication is the illusion that it has taken place.” - George Bernard Shaw
If you want to see the eyes of suspicious employees roll in the back of their heads, just tell them how eager the company is to hear their ideas for improvement.
Do it up big with an all-employee kickoff meeting where everyone is invited to hear puffy bromides about how much management values their input. Admit that you haven’t done a very good job of doing that in the past, but things are going to change with your new “open door policy.”
Serve up some platitudes about how people are the most important asset in the organization. Then top it off with a sugary coating of how receptive managers and supervisors are going to be in considering employee suggestions about ways to improve the business. If you haven’t lost them yet, be sure to use the classic “E” words. Tell people you want to empower and engage them—and just watch their eyes roll back in their heads again.
Truth is, too many managers suffer from the illusion that bold pronouncements constitute good communication, and that’s all it takes to get people tuned in and turned on. Words matter, of course, but actions matter more. Regardless of how well you think you’re communicating, it won’t make a dent in people’s beliefs and behaviors if the “do” doesn’t match the “say.”
It’s important to understand that “doing the do” takes more than an open door policy. It takes rigorous systematic processes and tools for continuous improvement that demonstrate the words in day-to-day operations. Otherwise, people will see through the lip service before the words stop echoing in the hallways.
领英推荐
Want to learn how to deliver concrete evidence that you’re serious about hearing and implementing what employees have to offer?
Click on the link below and discover how to imbed systematic continuous improvement processes into the fabric of everyday operations!
“Great is the enemy of better”
Read my weekly Systemic Continuous Improvement Insights at