Going Beyond The Open Door Policy
Most senior leaders I know consider themselves to be far more accessible than they really are. They believe attending events such as weekly office meetings, the annual Christmas party, offsite planning meetings, and various office mixers makes them accessible. However, the truth is, they continue to be surrounded by the same group of 15 to 25 people who dominate their attention and skew their information base, providing them with a false sense of “unbiased” knowledge.
A leader’s ability to know what is really going on in a company has much to do with the breadth of their information sources. If the sources are constantly the same, a leader could miss what is really happening at the different levels within the company. This often results in an issue escalating into a crisis before an executive can even realize there is a problem.
Leaders fool themselves by having “open door” policies. They assume their employees will feel comfortable enough to walk into their office with pertinent information. An “open door” policy is fine, but in a decentralized office environment, only the people at that location have access, and those employees most likely would not feel comfortable talking outside the normal chain of command.
Generally, because of rank and title, leaders are perceived to be intimidating, and oftentimes even aloof. In addition, subordinate leaders often give directives such as “don’t tell the boss,” and punish those who express their ideas to a “higher chain of command” without permission. These types of unspoken or unwritten rules exist often without a leader’s knowledge.
I found that in order to get more clear and unbiased information, I had to adjust my methods to actively seek it out. With that in mind, I used three techniques: […]