"Listen to Employees"
(Commandment #7) from The Ten Commandments for Managers
reprinted by permission
By Greg Blencoe

"The open door policy is very important at HP because it characterizes the management style to which we are dedicated. It means managers are available, open, and receptive...It is a procedure that encourages and, in fact, ensures that the communication flow be upward as well as downward."²⁰

David Packard

Co-founder and former CEO, Hewlett-Packard

 

 

Being a good listener is one of the key abilities of an effective manager. Listening to employees is the inverse of sharing information. When you listen to employees, your purpose is to get employees to share information with you. If you don't listen to your employees, you will miss out on key pieces of information, increase the chances of miscommunication, and run the risk that they will give up trying to communicate with you. Managers should listen to employees to get ideas about how to improve the business and to uncover problems.

 

 

Larry Rogers is a vice president of a national non-profit organization. Last year, he took a trip to San Francisco with his wife to visit his parents. Larry also used the trip to scout hotels downtown, because he was put in charge of a team that had to find a location for the organization's annual conference the following year. During his visit, he got a tour of the conference rooms at the hotel he and his wife were staying at as well as a few of the nearby hotels. They all seemed to be pretty close in price and quality so Larry had initially decided to recommend the hotel he stayed at to the board.

          However, on the morning he and his wife were leaving town, they had to get a cab from their hotel by 6:30 a.m. to make their flight. Unfortunately, Larry hit the snooze button on the hotel alarm clock. He and his wife ended up sleeping late and had to rush frantically to get out of there on time. Larry was ready first and went to the lobby to check out. After checking out, he went over to the hotel restaurant to get a cup of coffee but it was closed. He asked a bellman about the restaurant, and he said it did not open until 7 a.m.

          Larry was really upset, because he is one of those people that has to have coffee every morning. The bellman empathized with him and apologized profusely. He also said that he and the other bellmen had asked the general manager on several occasions to let them make a pot of coffee for the early risers. But every time they asked the general manager he would just ignore them.

          When Larry got back home, he changed his mind and recommended a neighboring hotel. His organization had the conference there the following year and the group ended up spending over $35,000 at the hotel during their stay. The simple failure to listen to the bellmen's suggestion cost that hotel dearly.

          Managers should constantly be asking employees "What do you think?" Employees know more about their jobs than anyone else, but they are usually the last ones to be asked how things could be done better. Besides being experts at their jobs, employees can bring a fresh perspective to analyzing the problems of the business because they have a different set of life experiences. Collectively, they can be just as valuable as a really good consultant and the best part is that their advice is free. In addition, if you listen to employees and are open to what they have to say, then employees will be much more willing to embrace things that you ask them to do.

          Listening to employees' ideas is also a tremendous morale booster. Most workers would cherish the opportunity to give input on decisions that affect their jobs. When managers listen to employees, the message being communicated to them is "You are important and we value what you have to say." That is one of the highest compliments that a manager can give an employee. My cousin used to manage a business that employed many high school students. One of his best employees once said to him, "I like coming to work here, Jeremy." Startled, my cousin asked "Why?" since the employee did not have a very enjoyable job. He responded, "Because you are the only person in my life who listens to my ideas."

          When trying to get employees to give suggestions, try to withhold what your opinion is on the subject until after they tell you what they think. You should try to have an open mind about ideas that come from your employees. We all see the world in our own way, so don't immediately dismiss what your employees are saying just because it is not in accord with your line of thinking. You don't want employees just repeating what you say. Constructive, respectful debates are a sign of a healthy organization. After all, you can buy a parrot if you just want to hear your ideas repeated.

          Granted, not everything your employees have to say will be useful since they may see things from a more narrow point of view. And listening to employees doesn't mean you have to agree with all of their ideas. You may have to agree to disagree. Another possibility is that you end up implementing a portion of the suggestion or modifying it a little.

          However, if you never implement any of their suggestions, your employees might think "Why are they asking me for suggestions if they aren't even going to implement the good ones?" Also, if you have already made up your mind, it is better to just tell employees that you have made a decision. You should not ask employees for their opinion when you know you are not going to budge anyway.

          One key point to remember is that listening to employees' ideas is not about compromising. It is about making the best decision no matter where it comes from. If you say two plus two equals four and one of your employees says two plus two equals eight, that doesn't mean you should meet them half way and come to the conclusion that two plus two equals six.

          In addition, there may come a time when you have to turn down a good suggestion even though you agree it is a good idea, because you don't have the authority to implement the change. For example, imagine a pizza restaurant has numerous complaints over the quality of sauce they use. Therefore, an employee suggests to his manager that they try out some new sauce vendors and choose one that provides a better product than the one they currently have. The manager agrees that it is a good idea, but tells the employee it can't be done because the restaurant is part of a franchise and the franchise agreement states that all of the ingredients in the pizza must be bought from the parent company.

          However, even if you can't do anything about an employee's suggestion, it will make them feel good that they were able to share their idea with somebody instead of keeping it bottled up inside. And, who knows, maybe one day you will be in a position where you can do something about it.

          Although there are some things that you won't be able to budge on, a lot of times there is nothing stopping a good idea from being implemented. Many outdated policies stay around for much longer than they should for no other reason than "We have always done it that way." Therefore, you are much better off having a bias leaning towards considering change rather than leaning against it. After all, employee suggestions can make your life easier by maximizing efficiency, increasing revenues, or cutting costs.

          There are many ways to gather employee suggestions. You can let employees set up a time to speak with you, ask them their opinions when you are brainstorming ideas about a new project, give them an anonymous survey, encourage them to take a devil's advocate role to try to pinpoint any weaknesses in a plan, etc. At first, employees may be reluctant to give suggestions. But they will soon begin giving them when they are certain that you want to hear them. One way to help encourage employee suggestions is to praise employees for giving suggestions even if you do not put them into practice.

          The key to any employee suggestion program is the genuine desire of the manager to hear the ideas that employees have and willingness to implement the good ones. That, more than anything, will determine how successful it is. If you ridicule, dismiss, or ignore all of their ideas, then you are sending the message that you are really not taking them seriously which makes it unlikely that you will get any additional ones in the future.

          Here is an example that discusses one of the greatest employee suggestions:

         

          In 1968, Dr. Spence Silver was working on trying to improve adhesives that 3M used in several of its tapes. He accidentally created an adhesive that did not stick very well to surfaces. Over the next five years, Dr. Silver spread the word inside the company through seminars and face to face conversations about the potential of the new adhesive. A new product development researcher named Art Fry attended one seminar and became very interested in the new adhesive. After he became aggravated with how his scrap paper bookmarks constantly fell out of his church choir book of hymns, Fry came up with the idea that the adhesive would make a good bookmark. Finally, after winning over the skeptics within 3M, they came up with a product that was introduced in 1980 and became 3M's Outstanding New Product the following year.

          What was the product? Post-it Notes.²¹

         

          Every time you see Post-it Notes from now on, remember that they originated from an employee suggestion.

 

 

Managers should also listen to employees to uncover problems. Employees should be able to voice concerns so managers can deal with these concerns before they become lingering problems. You don't want to have the impression that everything is going well when it's not. The reason is that the problem will have to be dealt with sometime in the future anyway so you are probably better off hearing about it now.

          The process of listening to employees to uncover problems is much like periodically changing the oil in your car. If you don't change the oil, unknown problems will begin to slowly build up until that dreaded day comes when you are stuck on the side of the road after your car breaks down and you have to call a tow truck. Just as taking your car in every three thousand miles to get the oil changed will help ensure your automotive machine is in top working condition, listening to employees to uncover problems will help ensure that your human resources "machine" is in top working condition.

          Therefore, you want to have an environment where employees can be honest with you about problems they are having. The best way to do this is to ask open-ended questions like "How is everything going?" Then, listen to the answers without getting outwardly upset even if what they have to say is not good news, and do what you can to remove any obstacles that are in the way of employees being able to do their jobs. However, this does not mean that you solve the normal problems that employees have in their jobs for them. This has to do with major problems or ones that are out of the control of employees. There is a fine line between micromanaging and getting involved when that is the right thing to do.

          You might say, "But I have an open door management policy. Employees are free to set up a time to talk to me anytime they want." However, most employees don't think that you really want to hear what they have to say. They fear if they voice their opinions you might become upset, label them a complainer, or do nothing about it. A true open door environment is one where employees feel comfortable communicating with you how they feel.

          Managers should take this whole process very seriously and not do it halfheartedly by seeming disinterested or not listening attentively. If you approach listening to employees in a phony fashion, then the employees will become upset and not communicate their true feelings to you. Your words will ring hollow if you say you have an open door policy and then constantly put off meeting with them or ignore what they are saying when they speak to you. Also, when listening to employees it is very important to keep the conversation confidential. One of the quickest ways to ruin any trust you have with your employees is to get the reputation that you will tell others what your employees have told you in private.

          When listening to employees, you should first absorb what they say by letting it sink in a little before you respond. You should also listen to employees without judgment and stay neutral. Employees should be heard without the fear of being reprimanded. Managers should not "shoot the messenger" by lashing out at employees if they bring bad news. This will discourage employees from bringing bad news in the future and that is not what you want.

          Once you have heard what an employee has to say, you should decide whether you need to do anything about it and ask the employee if they want you to look into the problem. However, remember that there are always two sides to every story and you are only seeing things from one person's point of view. At this point, it is best not to promise the employee anything until you have looked into the matter. Also, there are certain times when you could step in and get involved, but it would be better for the employee to take care of the problem themselves.

          Even though listening to employees is important, you want to make sure that you don't allow employees to dump every little problem on you. Therefore, you should first ask the employee what they have done to solve the problem. They should take responsibility for dealing with the problem to the extent that they can.

          In addition, managers should realize that being available for employees and having an open door policy does not mean that they can come into your office any time they feel like it. You must set boundaries or you might face a situation where you are constantly interrupted and can't get any of your own work done. For example, you can tell employees that if your door is closed that means that you have to be left alone. Or, if they ask to talk to you while you are out of your office but busy, you should politely say that you can't talk now and give them a time when they can talk to you. Employees understand that you can't always talk to them that moment so they should not have any problem with this.

          Here are two examples that illustrate the importance of managers listening to employees to solve problems before they get out of hand:

 

          Example #1 - Katie Morsovillo is the director of business development at a New York City retailer. She has had some problems recently with one of her employees who used to be one of her best. It all started about six months ago when Katie chose a person outside the company for the assistant director of business development position which she thought the employee wanted. Since then, the employee often arrived late to work and took extra time at lunch, but always left right on time. This person was cheerful before, but became less friendly and a bit short-tempered at work. The employee would even stay on personal calls when they needed to be taking care of important business. Katie finally decided to have a talk with the employee to see what her problem was and in doing so got everything worked out.

 

          Example #2 - Christine Dunne is a business analyst for an East Coast women's clothing company. She is a single mother who recently got a divorce from her high school sweetheart after being separated for a while and unable to reconcile their problems. Christine loves her job since she is big into fashion and would not consider doing anything else. But her separation and divorce has really taken a toll on her. When her husband was around, he would drop their daughter off at day care every morning and pick her up in the afternoon, because it was right near where he worked on Long Island. After the separation, Christine had to take over this responsibility. This was especially difficult in the afternoons, because the day care center closed at 6:30 p.m. and it was tough to make it out there after work by that time.

          In addition, her mother recently had health problems that the doctors had trouble diagnosing. Christine had to speak many times with several different doctors to try to figure out what needed to be done with her mother. She even started doing many of her chores during lunch, because that was one of the few times during the day that she had free. Christine knew the problems in her personal life were affecting her work life and she desperately wanted to talk to her manager about it. But she thought that it was best not to bring personal issues into the office. Luckily, Christine's manager called her in for a talk soon after that and she got to let her manager know what she was going through.

 

          In the first example, Katie was shocked to find out in their talk that her employee had been having some serious personal problems over the past six months. They were the root cause of the behavior. In the second example, Christine was relieved to finally explain her divorce, daughter's day care situation, and mother's illness to her manager. They solved the problem by allowing Christine to come in to work thirty minutes later and leave thirty minutes earlier. Then, in order to make up for the time she missed during the day, Christine would do computer work at home every night for an hour after her daughter went to sleep.

          These two examples show how differently someone can interpret a situation without having full knowledge of what is going on. Katie is Christine's manager.

          The truth is that Christine had no desire to get the assistant director of business development position. She was perfectly happy in her job. The change in behavior had nothing to do with that and everything to do with her personal problems. She was not on the phone talking to friends. She was on the phone talking to doctors. Christine was often late but always leaving right on time to deal with the day care situation. She was taking long lunches to get as many of her chores done as possible. And Christine was less friendly and a bit short-tempered due to the stress of the divorce combined with her mother's health, not because she was bitter about not landing that position.

          The point of this example is not to assign blame. Frankly, Christine should have said something to her manager on her own long before six months had passed. However, if Katie had always been in the habit of listening to Christine to uncover any problems with her job, then this matter would not have drawn-out six months either. A lot of times what you assume will be correct, but sometimes you are just looking at the tip of the iceberg.

 

 

Knowledge is power. Listen to employees to get suggestions and uncover problems.