Hiring for Values.

I am often asked how to interview someone to determine their values, and how well they may fit into a strong values-based organizational culture.   We’re all looking for that highly intelligent, hard worker, who is a person of high integrity, who will do the right thing for the business, and treat employees, colleagues and customers fairly.  The core values of our company are what we are asking these candidates to perpetuate and champion throughout our organization.  Our values and culture are the truly competitive differentiators of a great organization.  As such we need to know if they really believe in who we are and what we stand for, or whether they are simply blowing smoke in order to get a job.

Most of us have, at one time or another, hired someone we thought had these characteristics, but later learned we had made a mistake.  So how is it done?  Answering this question is especially important in the light of anti-discrimination laws associated with what is legal and illegal to ask in an interview.

Let me first say how critically important it is for your company to have clearly articulated core values.  These are the behavior standards that you will not compromise.  They are the principles that guide your everyday decisions, behaviors, policies and practices.  They must be more than a poster on a wall.  Enron had a list of values that everyone in their organization could quote.  They resulted in a catchy acronym, R.I.C.E. which stood for Respect, Integrity, Communication and Excellence.  I have heard Jeff Skillings and Ken Lay expound on these values and their importance to the organization.   Yet it was their absence in practice that led to the downfall of that company.   So, as you consider writing your values on a poster and preaching them to your company, ask yourself, “Is there anything or circumstance that could cause us to compromise on any one of these principles/values?”  If so, don’t include it in your list.   

There are many examples of companies whose core values are living, breathing words and principles that guide their every decision.  Check out core values of the following companies:

·         Tyson Foods Core: http://www.tysonfoods.com/Our-Story/Core-Values.aspx. 

·         Texas Instruments:  http://www.slideshare.net/slhigg1099/ti-core-values-3226125

·         JMSmucker:  http://www.jmsmucker.com/smuckers-corporate/basic-beliefs

·         Walmart:  http://corporate.walmart.com/our-story/working-at-walmart/culture

You may also consider doing what Smucker's did.  Their leadership expressed awareness that values could sometimes come into conflict with one another.  So they helped their employees by creating a decision tree, which told them which one to choose when facing such a dilemma.  I always encourage my clients not only to list their values, but to rank them in order of importance, which also can assist in the face of such dilemmas.

When interviewing a candidate, I ask them if they have become familiar with our company’s values.  If they have, I know that these may be important to them, and that they may be a person who is interested in working with a company where their values are in alignment.  If they haven't done their research, that provides insight as well.  I ask them how they feel about our core values, what these values mean to them.  I ask them how they will be a champion for our core values in the new role if they are selected.   I am listening for alignment and whether their values appear to be superficial, or core to who they are and what they believe.   I then begin to present them with real workplace situations in which true ethical dilemmas are present, in order to learn where and how they draw the line, and how they will manage the consequences of their choices.   I ask them to describe ethical dilemmas they have faced in their past work experience and how they handled them, and why they handled them the way they did.

I may also administer a pre-selection assessment, such as the Hogan Assessment Suite.  Hogan's Motives, Values and Preferences Inventory along with their Development Survey provide great insight into what is important to this individual, whether there is alignment with the primary drivers of our organization, what drives their behavior, insight into how the they manage their stressors and what their performance challenges may be.  All these insights provide additional information that leads to further inquiry in interviews and follow up coaching and development conversations.

I want to know if they understand the difference between acting/leading with the big picture in mind, versus acting/leading for immediate gratification and reward.  We are all aware of the studies completed by Walter Mischel and Shane Frederick.  One gave four year old children a choice between one Oreo now, or two Oreos in fifteen minutes.  Those who resisted and waited showed higher skills of control in cognitive tasks, intellectual aptitude, IQ scores, and emotional control, all of which followed them well into adult life.  The other asked students to complete a seemingly simple, yet complex test.  Those that took the time to study the test and come up with the less obvious, but correct answer, demonstrated disciplined, rather than lazy thinking, that would make them less susceptible to cognitive errors and emotionally laden decision making.  As I proceed with the interview, I am listening for how these values of discipline, delayed gratification, emotional control and disciplined thinking developed and became important to them over the course of their career. 

I also encourage hiring managers to spend more than an hour interview with candidates so they can see them in various settings.  How may people have considered marrying their spouse after a one hour dinner?  Very few.  I mean, some people are simply very good at making great first impressions.  Getting past the first impression, and becoming more objective and less emotional about your decision may take more than one or two interviews.  So take the time necessary to move this interview from acquaintance to marriage.  This is especially important for higher impact leadership positions.  

It is so important to get this right.  We can teach the functional/technical aspects of a job, but that which is core to the person, and critical to the organizational culture is more difficult to teach.   The people you hire are seen by your employees as a reflection of who you are and how important the values and culture of the organization are to you.  Make sure every hire reflects your commitment to your core values.

 

 

Thanksgiving, a Matter of Selective Reflection. Read this Story to Learn More

Back when I was serving as VP of Resources for Living, the employee assistance program for Wal-Mart, Kroger, Bridgestone, and other Fortune 500 companies, a young African American woman(I knew this because she told me so) called called our service and I happened to be available to take her call.  She was terribly distraught.  She was crying uncontrollably for the first few minutes of the call.  When she was finally able to talk she told me that she was considering taking her own life.  She said that her mother had kicked her out of her house and that she was now living with a relative.  She said she did not know why her mother was so angry or what to do to rebuild this relationship, because her mother refused to speak with her.  She simply felt helpless and hopeless.

As a counselor, I wanted to know about her resources and support system, so I began to ask questions that would give me insight into these things that I knew would be essential to her future well-being.  I affirmed her relationship with her aunt and she agreed by indicating that they had a loving relationship, and had been told that she could stay as long as necessary.  When I asked about her job she said she had a good job, enjoyed her work and had a lot of good friends there.  This led me to believe she probably had completed high school so I asked about her school experience and about friends that she may have carried over from highschool. She said that most of her friends in high school took a different path than she, became pregnant, were on welfare or involved in drugs.  I commended her for completing high school and asked her what motivated her to take a different path..  She said she completed school with good grades in order to compete as an athlete in track & field.  She said she still keeps up with her fitness by running three miles every day.  I commended her and told her that this really is unique compared to most people her age.

She turned the conversation back to her accomplishments at school.  She said that the athletic competition motivated her to stay focused academically since good grades were required to compete.  I asked how well she did in her track experience.  She said she had won several competitions and had actually been offered a full scholarship to a nearby college.  I again commended her with an amazement at her accomplishments and asked if she planned to attend college.  She said she was not sure, but, now that it was on her mind, she would consider checking into it further.

After about a half hour into our conversation, she stopped me and said she had to go get a pen and paper, and quickly dropped the phone and then returned.  I asked what that was all about.  She said that the felt better than she had in weeks.  I could tell that her mood had changed significantly from the beginning of the conversation.  She said that she was so THANKFUL for our conversation, and went on to say that no one had ever told her all the things that I had told her and that she wanted to write them all down.  I responded by informing her that I had told her nothing, but that it was she that had told of all her accomplishments, and of all the positive things in her life.  All I did was ask a few questions.  She excitedly agreed.  She said that she really wanted to keep these things in the forefront of her thinking and said she was going to list these on a piece of paper and tape it to her bathroom mirror so she could read them every day before she left her house.  She said she wanted to be reminded that she is worthwhile, unique, quite talented, and has so much to live for and to be THANKFUL for.  Think about it.  She had:

• A loving and supportive relationship with her aunt
• A good job which provided resources to provide for herself
• She had good support from friends at work as well
• She had achieve significant success where others of her peers had not
• She had completed high school where others had dropped out
• She had achieve success in track and field
• She had opportuities waiting for her in the form of a scholarship
• She was capable of making great choices and overcoming personal challenges

Since we had not talked much about her mother, I asked again about it.  She said that she still did not have a good answer for that, but that she was certain that she would be okay even if things did not get better between them.  I suggested she call again to discover some ways she could try to work things out with her mother.   I also asked about her suicidal thoughts and she said that she no longer felt badly enough to harm herself.  in fact, she said she felt quite hopeful about her life and her future. 

Three weeks passed before I heard from her again.  She said that she was doing really well.  She said she still lived with her aunt, and that her relationship with her mother was slowly improving.   She said she still sees the list every morning and is reminded that even when a few things are not going well, that there are a lot of other good things about her life that she can be THANKFUL for and on which she can focus.

This person has been an inspiration to me since that call.  You see, THANKFULNESS is simply a matter of selective reflection.  What she had chosen to reflect on before our call had overwhelmed her.  Was it a problem?  Certainly.  But it can only overshadow the strengths and resources she had if she allowed it to.  She shifted her focus to her strengths and resources and used those to give her the strength to handle the challenges she faced.  Now that is a skill she can use for a lifetime.

No one's life is a rose garden.  Use this holiday season to take some time to reflect on the things you CAN be thankful, and use those resources to tackle the challenges that life throws at you.

Happy Thanksgiving.

 

Obamacare and Unintended Consequences

Is it too far-fetched to believe that this new Obamacare law could have unintended consequences?  People don’t like being forced to spend their hard earned money, especially on things they don’t want.  And they hate it even more when it results in a reduction in lifestyle or status.   Read on.

I have been a workplace violence prevention consultant since 1992.  When I was Vice President of Resources for Living, I worked closely with Wal-Mart to develop their workplace violence prevention strategy in the 90s and trained their (and other Fortune 500) Loss Prevention team to manage threats.   For several years I was on call at the home office in Bentonville to collaborate with a multi-disciplinary team to develop effective responses to incidents that were considered threatening.   The company I worked for was an Counseling Service that was the brainchild of Sam Walton and one of my graduate school professors.  We had a bank of professional counselors who took calls from Associates and their families to help them with any personal issue they had.  We provide over 40,000 counseling sessions each year, free of charge to these employees.

We also created a manager’s hotline to help managers support their Associates who frequently approached them with a personal need which they were not equipped to handle.  Sometime we would coach the manager.  Sometime the manager asked us to offer support directly to the Associate. 

From time to time managers found themselves facing unusually challenging personnel issues.   These were situations that had the potential to result in violence, such as when they became aware of an associate who was the victim of domestic violence and it threatened to come into the stroe, or when an associate demonstrated behaviors that were way out of the norm or appeared to be more threatening to others.

This was in the mid to late 90s and a time when workplace violence was synonymous with “going postal”, due to the rash of workplace violence outbreaks experienced by the U.S. Postal Service around that time.  What was interesting to me was that the two entities were about the same size, around 800,000 employees.  Yet they were so different.  Wal-Mart had never experienced a disgruntled employee committing violence in the workplace.  I was curious as to what made the difference, and continued to open my training with Managers, Executives and Loss Prevention Associates with this discussion.  

The obvious things were also what you might read in most workplace violence prevention literature.  Things such as the culture of respect for the individual that was foundational to Wal-Mart, versus, the hierarchical, “us-versus-them” culture that permeated the unionized Post Office.  The direct and respectful communications, and Open Door culture that were apparent at Wal-Mart, versus the “tell it to your union steward” mentality that frequently reflected the level of concern that many post office managers demonstrated to their employees.

The one thing that I had never read in the literature or heard from the “experts” in this field became apparent to me during this time.  The people who worked in both organizations on the front line were comparable, meaning that they came from similar socioeconomic and educational backgrounds.  One primary differentiator at the time was that the Post Office paid a much higher wage and had much richer benefits than Wal-Mart.  A person with a high school education working at the post office could pull in considerably more money than a similarly qualified person workng at Wal-Mart.  Now don’t feel sorry for the Wal-Mart employee.  They were being paid competitively to jobs similar to theirs in similar locations.   If a Wal-Mart employee lost their job for any number of reasons, they could easily walk across the street to another retailer or similar establishment and get a job at a similar pay rate.  This was simply not the case for the post office employee.  When this person’s job was threatened and they begin to look around to find a job with their experience and education level, the could find nothing.  They were looking at jobs with half the pay or less.  When their jobs were threatened by their managers, or when they were feeling as if they were not being heard or respected, they had few alternatives for employment where they could maintain their lifestyle.  It’s no wonder that the place erupted in so many explosive episodes. 

Now, to the credit of the post office, after experiencing several of these types of incidents, they began to change the culture and work more closely with the union to build a more respectful environment.  They trained their managers and changed out the ones who could not make the adjustment.

You are probably asking, what does this have to do with Obamacare?  The imposition of an unwanted tax that impacts a person’s lifestyle or family’s financial well-being frequently triggers irrational responses from people, as they try to regain control or make a statement about the unfairness of a situation.  While there have certainly been problems with the health insurance exchange website, I believe that one of the reasons that the enrollment figures are currently so low, is that people go on line and see what the costs will be and simply refuse to participate, in defiance of the law.  (I mean, if the president can do it, why can't they?) So far, no one has yet been forced to pay up.  When that finally happens (either due to an illness without insurance, or fines for non-participation) people’s lifestyle will be impacted.  They will have to make choices between protecting their family with healthcare insurance, or feeding, clothing, or providing transportation for them.  When these essentials of life are threatened, people don’t always behave rationally.  They frequently look for people to blame.  When their voice is not heard and they don’t know what else to do, they begin to look for justice, or for ways to regain control.  That’s when there is escalating potential for greater irrationality.  That is when their is greater likelihood for the story to change.

When people in the media investigate incidents of violence, they and the friends and neighbors of the perpetrator often claim that “he just snapped”.   Those of us who do this type of consulting know that people don’t snap.  There are always signs that lead to the violence, or triggers that become the final straw that leaves them resorting to violence as their method of resolution. 

I will never forget the time I was flying with one of my colleagues into Tampa, Florida.  When we landed, the news was reporting an incident of violence in which a beach maintenance worker, who had been terminated a couple years prior, returned to his work station and killed three or four of his former co-workers.  As I read heard the news, I recall commenting to my colleague, “I wonder what the trigger was that set him off today?”  The following day’s news report described the gentleman who had been terminated.  They mentioned that he had been having difficulty finding another “good” job.  Then they mentioned that they had learned from people they interviewed that the day before the incident of violence, his hot water heater and gone out, and he was distraught because didn’t have the money to replace it.  I told my colleague, “That was the trigger.”  Even two years after his termination, he blamed his treatment by these colleagues and the people who terminated him for his current situation.  He had held it together for several years, until it seemed as if it was out of his control.  Irrational?  Yes.  Unjustifiable?  Definitely.  Tragic?  Yes.

This kind of irrationality is just one of the reasons companies offer severances and outplacement services to people they terminate.  It gives them a softer landing and a focus on a better future.  Unfortunately, the option of personalized outplacement is being traded for sterile online interactions with little resemblence to the support that is needed for effective outplacement.  I am not seeing the soft landing for those impacted by the skyrocketing cost associated with Obamacare.   I believe the outrage by the American people is what is causing the regular delays of the implementation of the law.  The question that must be answered is, Is it possible that we may see more irrational responses as the reality of this new law is felt, if it is ever fully implemented?

People seldom leave companies. They leave managers

The exit interview says they left for another position, yet that is seldom the full story.

The statement, “People seldom leave companies.  They leave managers” was confirmed by Gallup research several years ago and popularized in the book, First Break All the Rules, by Buckingham and Coffman.  We have all worked for someone who called themselves leaders, but demonstrated few of the qualities and characteristics necessary to engage their people, and draw out the best from them.

Do any of these managers sound familiar:  How about the leader who relies on one successful business venture as sufficient credibility that should cause employees in the new company they lead to overlook their over-controlling behavior?  Or the leader who stays riveted to the scoreboard and never inquisitively engages his customers or his employees?  Or the leader who is so introverted and conflict avoidant that they never have direct performance management conversations with their direct reports, then, without warning they simply terminate them and  declare their presence in a “right to work” state as justification for their poor leadership?  Or how about the leader who is so insecure that they frequently tell you they are threatened by your presence, competence, gender, and the confidence that senior leadership in the organization has in your skills and abilities?     Or how about the senior executive who believes she has an open door, but never ask department employees how they are doing, or how effective her leaders are.  (Check out my January 2013 posts regarding the Open Door)?  Or the leader who has a 50% turnover rate in their department and never addresses it? Or how about the leader that makes it clear that you “should” join him in his after-hours frivolities that run counter to your values? Or how about the leader who yells, screams, cusses, and swears out of one side of his mouth, while preaching the company’s core values of respect for others out the other?  These are just a few stories I have heard in my years  coaching.  I am sure you can add to this list of leadership horror stories. 

People who work for these leaders will generally give their best out of their own integrity while trying to survive in these dysfunctional environments.  But they know they have so much more to give.   The leader’s track record of success or promotion leaves little incentive to change their management style, leaving employees with limited choices.  Knowing they will not thrive or reach their potential in such an environment, the bail at the first opportunity. 

It is worthwhile noting that as we move into 2014, job satisfaction rates are back at pre-recession levels.  People are no longer simply satisfied to have a job.  They are actively looking again.  On top of this, it is predicted that the availability of Obamacare will finally provide many with the freedom to launch out on that entrepreneurial venture they have dreamed about. 

When this happens these same leaders will blame employees for their lack of engagement, decry their high turnover, as if they had nothing to do with it, squall about the 50-60% “derailment” rate of the leaders they lead, and refuse to look in the mirror, to take responsibility, and recognize that they are what’s really broken in their organization. 

Other organizations, recognizing that leadership is totally responsible for engagement, satisfaction and turnover will bring in new leaders to right the ship.  We see it everyday.  Great leaders take underperforming teams, even those that have been labeled as a problems (by one of the leaders described above), and turn it around to achieve stellar results.  The organizations that take up this leadership challenge and correct or eliminate the dysfunction, and develop leaders with the skills, values, desire and accountability for leading and developing people for stellar results; these are the organizations that will come out on top when the talent churn begins.  They will be talent magnets.  They will outperform their competition at every level, and they will have a culture where employees want to work and where customers want to spend their time and money.

 

How are your leaders doing?  Don't be deceived.  Ask their employees.

Leadership and The Art of the Question

I was asked to coach an individual who had recently completed his master’s degree and had been in a development position for high potential leaders in his company for about two years.   He was becoming a bit frustrated, because he believed he was ready to lead an operating unit of the organization which the position was preparing him for.  However, from the perspective of the company leadership, he was far from ready for the promotion.  While he knew more than most about the technical side of the business, and was filled with all sorts of ideas for improving operations, they knew he would have been a disaster to the organization, would alienate people who would see him as arrogant and condescending, and would ultimately fail and leave the organization, probably involuntarily.  Their hope was that executive coaching would help him address his interpersonal challenges and learn to lead in a new way. 

I made it clear to the organization that they would have to help him understand that his job was on the line and that termination was likely to be his only option if these changes were not made.  After they made these things clear he and I entered a year long coaching engagement.  Though the message was difficult for him to hear, it was evident that he wanted to stay the course and turn things around.  It became apparent that no one before these leaders (including his parents) had taken the time to confront him about his arrogance (which was a blind spot to him), or cared enough to invest in efforts to help him change. 

The first “aha” came when I told him that the people he would be charged with leading had been in the organization for many years and had seen lots of leaders, just like him, come and go.  Some they loved and some they hated.  Many they tolerated, but spewed out as quickly as possible (which organizations frequently do).  Only a few got results.  I helped him understand that , while, the goal was not so much to be loved as it was to get results, I also helped him understand that his future depended greatly on getting results that would last beyond him, and that this could only come when he helped the people he led to begin to think differently about their work. 

The turnaround in his leadership style came when he began to understand the value of asking good questions, and the art of doing so effectively.  He learned that it is much easier to have good ideas and simply announce them to people and have them implement them (positional authority), than it is to help them discover the ideas for themselves and change their behavior because they believe in the change rather than because “the boss said so” (personal authority).  Through the coaching process he learned to ask questions in a way that was truly inquisitive rather than condescending.  He learned to ask questions that would get people to think about their business as they never had before.  He learned to give them the responsibility and accountability for presenting good ideas, and to ask questions that help shape their thinking rather than criticize an idea that had not yet taken everything he knew into account.    In the midst of it all he learned that helping people discover their competency and capability was more energizing for him and for the people he led.  He also heard a lot of people say that “No one ever taught me as much as you have.”  To which he responded, “I was simply asking questions. You were the one who had the answers all along.” 

Today, he is having a blast leading in his organization in a new way, one that blends the value of respecting others with the belief that capable people can achieve far more than they dreamed possible, when they have the right kind of leadership. 

On a side note, let me be sure to clarify that I understand the value of positional authority, but as an old friend of mine use to tell his managers, “Everyone knows you have a badge and a gun.  Don’t show them unless you are ready to use them.  And that should be rarely.” 

Is Employee Engagement Worth the Effort?

Is Employee Engagement Worth the Effort?

Engagement and performance

• Gallup examined thousands of businesses comparing financial performance with engagement scores
•  Those with engagement scores in the bottom quartile averaged 30 – 50% more employee turnover, 50% more inventory shrinkage and 62% more accidents.
• Those with engagement scores in the top quartile averaged 12% higher customer satisfaction, 18% higher productivity and 12% higher profitability
• Another Gallup study found that the Earnings Per Share (EPS) growth rate of organizations with engagement scores in the top quartile was 2.6 times that of organizations with below-average engagement scores.
• Tower Perrins carried out a global survey looking at similar comparison (highlighted in the book Closing the Engagement Gap: how great companies unlock employee potential for superior results by Gebauer and Lowman.
• Those companies with a highly engaged workforce improved operating income by 19.2% over a period of 12 months, while those companies with low engagement scores saw operating income decline by 32.7% over the same period.
• Those companies with high engagement scores demonstrated a 13.7% improvement in net income growth while those with low engagement saw net income growth decline by 3.8%.
• Most notable was the 52% gap in the performance improvement in operating income between companies with highly-engaged employees versus those with low engagement scores.

Engagement and costs associated with absenteeism

• Gallup found that engagement levels can be predictors of sickness related absenteeism, with more highly engaged employees taking an average of 2.7 days per year, compared with disengaged employees taking an average of 6.2 days per year.

Engagement and employee turnover

• Engaged employees are 87% less likely to leave the organization than the disengaged.

While the research says that employee engagement may well be worth millions to businesses, an ACCOR Services Report indicates that over 75% of managers have no engagement plan or strategy.  Even more startling, Accenture found that over half of CFOs surveyed could only guess at the return on investment in their human capital.

One aspect of our work at GrowthWise is helping companies GET, KEEP and GROW the talent required for their success.  Few things are more exciting than helping companies create Cultures of Engagement.  When a group of leaders are committed to developing a comprehensive strategy for employee engagement the results can be phenomenal. 

Is Turnover Killing Your Bottom Line?

 What does employee turnover cost?  

•          Corporate Research Council - Direct expenses can vary from 46% of annual pay for frontline employees, to 137% for a bank teller, to 176% for IT professionals and 241% for middle managers.

•          American Hotel and Motels Association calculated the cost of turnover for an $8 per hour employee to be $4,100.

•          Cornell University Hotel School says that the cost of turnover for a front desk employee in a hotel is $5,688.

•          American Organization of Nurse Executives  - says shows the cost of turnover for a Medical/Surgical Nurse to be $42K, and $64K for a Specialty Nurse.

•          PriceWaterhouse Coopers  - Turnover cost for the average hospital is $300K for every 1% increase in annual turnover.

These estimates vary widely because the researchers utilize slightly different methodologies in their calculations.  But regardless of how you cut it, the numbers are staggering.  While we would all agree that some turnover may be good, especially when it includes low performers moving on, we would also generally agree that much of the turnover we experience is not preferred. 

At a mid-sized company I worked with that employed relatively high income employees in the technology and software industry we calculated the cost of turnover using Corporate Research Council numbers for IT professionals.  With a 17% turnover rate, the impact was costing them over $7M annually.  When we looked only at the voluntary turnover, which was about 80% of that number, the cost was still above the $5M mark.

Many business operators hear these numbers and either consider them to be unbelievable or insurmountable, so they often ignore them and go on doing business the way they have always done it.  If they do chose to pay attention to them at all they may be satisfied with simply keeping their turnover rates within one or two percentage points of the norms for their industry.

This company took a different approach.  They valued their employees and wanted them to succeed.  They agonized every time they lost an employee to a competitor.  They were frustrated with the reasons employees gave for their departures (a topic for another post).  We joined forces and took action.  We launched a concerted effort to develop a culture of engagement.  We listened to employees by means of employee surveys and managers responded to their concerns and questions.  We revamped the performance management and rewards systems and equipped every manager with the skills and resources necessary to develop and reward their people.  The leadership operated on a philosophy of openness and transparency and share the results of employee efforts on regular interval, so they could see the difference they were making.  Their efforts resulted in a turnover rate dropping from 17% to 8% during a period when turnover averaged 19% for comparable companies in their industry.  That savings went directly to the bottom line, and the change was evident in the overall performance of the organization. 

These kinds of results can only happen when leaders are committed to Getting the Right People, developing processes, systems and a culture to Keep them, and Grow them to be the best they possibly can be.  

This is also why I love what I do with GrowthWise.  I have the opportunity everyday to help companies achieve these kinds of significant results.

How's Your Open Door?

In my last posting “So You Think You Have an Open Door”, I reviewed a few comments that I have heard from employees and managers over the years that tell me that the Door may not be as Open as many leaders intend.


Step back and review the comments from that post. If you are hearing any of those, or have a gut feeling they may be true, you may be asking what you can do to ensure that your Open Door Policy is achieving what it was intended to. Here are a few suggestions.

• You may want to re-define what you intended when you put the Open Door Policy in place, or at least, what you intend going forward.
• You likely wanted to create an environment of openness, honesty, transparency and trust, where employee problems can be resolved, issues and concerns addressed, and where employees can feel safe and fully engaged in their work.
• You may have understood that no manager can be all things to all employees all the time. Since it is possible, (even probable) for a manager to miss it from time to time with any particular employee, you may have wanted to provide an Open Door to ensure that employees have a place to turn so their issues or concerns can be appropriately addressed.
• You may have understood that every manager needs a coach from time to time, someone who can see and hear things from a different perspective. You wanted to be a team of resources to help managers grow in their effectiveness, learn to listen better, to understand various ways they are perceived, to improve their communication skills, and to look for solutions that may well be out of their realm of experience or out or their comfort zone.
• Clearly communicate your policy and vision for it.
• Communicate it over and over. It should be reiterated at every employee meeting and in newsletters, or in the various other means of communications you have. An effective Open Door may be your best tool at your disposal for increasing retention and growing better leaders, so don’t short- change it.
• Post it in every way and every where possible.
• Ensure that everyone clearly understands the vision for it until they are encouraging each other to act on it.
• Train your employees how to use the policy.
• Ask them to start by trying to address their concern directly with their manager.
• Then, if that fails, or for some reason seems untenable to them, encourage them to address it with their manager’s supervisor or another trusted member of management.
• Help them understand that unresolved issues are not good for them or the organization.
• Ask for their feedback along the way to learn how it is working.
• Ensure your employees understand what to expect when they use the Open Door.
• They need to know that the Open Door is not an “I get it my way” process, but is a means of being heard, being taken seriously, ensuring their concerns are adequately understood and thoroughly investigated and addressed.
• They also need to know that just because they raise a concern, the issue may not be resolved just the way they envision it, or as quickly as they may have hoped.
• They need to understand that even if their perceptions are correct, there are confidentiality and respect issues that may prevent you from telling them exactly how the issue is being dealt with.
• Always follow up with the employee who brought you their concern to see how they are doing and to let them know what you can about the progress of their issue.
• Be sure to let employees know that there is no retaliation, and they are to let you or another member of management know if they believe they are being retaliated against.
• However, as badly as I don’t want to say this, they need to know that sometimes subtle forms of retaliation exist and are difficult to prove.
• Thank them for the courage to speak up and do what is right.
• Train your managers to make the Open Door one of their best friends.
• Help them understand that they cannot possibly hit strikes 100% of the time, and when they miss it, they need someone to be their back up, for their sake, for the sake of the employee/s with concerns, and for the health of the organization.
• Train them how to be open to feedback
• Whether the employee’s perspective is accurate or simply a misperception, it is the reality they are living in.
• If it is accurate and requires adjustment, help them identify the resources to make the change.
• If it is inaccurate and a misperception, help them to catch it out to the side rather than right between the eyes, where they tend to take it too personally and defensively.
• Let them know that even a hint of retaliation can and is likely to cost them their job as a leader in your organization.
• Let them know that you expect them to promote the Open Door policy, and invite their employees use it should they feel uncomfortable or unsafe talking to them.
• Teach them how to respond should an employee come to them using the open door about a concern.
• Help them to listen
• Have them ask what happened when the employee approached their own manager with their concern. If they haven’t approached them with it ask them what is preventing them from doing so. If it is a lack of skills, teach them how to have these crucial conversations.
• Have them ask the employee, “What is it that you need or want from me at this time?”
• Frequently employees just want someone to listen to them, or coach them on how to deal with their manager or concern.
• However, help them be aware, that if they are reporting an ethical violation or a violation such as sexual harassment, you must proceed to investigate, even if the employee does not want you to.
• Circle back with the direct reports of your managers to see what kind of environment they are creating.
• The Open Door culture is your responsibility. Own it.
• As much as you want to believe that you have great managers who treat their people well, you cannot know whether that is the case unless you create an Open the Door for these employees to tell you what is actually going on with them.
• I have seen too many highly talented people leave companies because of their manager, because they felt like no one else cared, or because they believed the senior manager would side with their manager and their efforts would fall on deaf ears.
• The truth is, your managers may “feel” like they are doing great, and be missing it completely.
• Then there are those managers who have made threats that communication up the chain is unacceptable, or will be viewed harshly.
• Checking in and giving the direct reports of your managers a platform for being heard is the only way you will help your managers get better, and improve the engagement culture of your organization.

There are probably more things you can do to ensure that your Open Door is actually open. If you’d like to share, I’d love to hear from you.

So, You Think You Have an Open Door?!

In most of today’s companies and organizations it is likely that an “Open Door Policy” exists, either formally, or as a mantra of the culture the organization is trying to create. These policies or mantras usually mean that employees can come to you at any time with any concern they would like to address. And, if they happen to feel uncomfortable addressing their issue with you, they are encouraged to find a leader or manager in the organization that they trust, to address their concern. This is usually followed by a statement stating that any retaliation to a person who uses the Open Door is completely unacceptable.

After several years of counseling and coaching employees, executives, and being on both sides of that equation myself, I believe it is a good practice periodically conduct a thorough examination on the extent to which your Open Door is actually doing what you intended it to do.

I suggest this examination primarily because, it is actually far better not to have such a policy than it is for your policy to be a sham. Another reason for the examination is because of what I have heard and experienced over the years about the Open Door:

• I am amazed at how many times I have heard employees tell me that their manager has strictly prohibited them from calling anyone at the “Home Office”, from calling the employee hotline, or from speaking to someone up the chain of command. Managers will often state something like, “We take care of our own problems here at home!” I don’t know if you realize it, but that sounds a lot like the words that come from an abusive or dysfunctional family in which parents tell their kids to keep our secrets to ourselves. (Sorry, the old family therapist creeping out there)
• I am also amazed at how often people tell stories of being threatened or of actual retaliation having occurred when they have used the open door.
• I am shocked at the number of managers who tell me an Open Door Policy exists in their workplace, but then tell me that they have never (and many would never) encouraged their employees to utilize the Open Door if they felt like they cannot come to them with an issue or concern.
• I am stunned by how few managers or leaders spend time with the employees of their Direct Reports, to determine how effective their managers are in addressing employee issues, or how seldom they check in to learn, first hand, the kind of culture or working environment their managers are creating.
• And, I am dumbfounded by how frequently managers fail to understand how vulnerable employees often are or feel when they used the Open Door.
• And I am surprised by how frequently managers fail to follow up and check back with an employee who has taken great risk in using the Open Door, just to ensure their issue was appropriately and respectfully addressed. Some are so insensitive to the risk factor that they simply tell the manager of the employee who came to them about the incident, accept their version of what happened, and expect them to follow up with the employee, or to act on it appropriately!

I know. You're probably right.  Maybe it’s just me!