๐๐ฒ๐๐ฎ๐ฟ๐ฒ ๐๐ต๐ฒ ‘๐ผ๐ฝ๐ฒ๐ป-๐ฑ๐ผ๐ผ๐ฟ’ ๐ณ๐ฎ๐น๐น๐ฎ๐ฐ๐!
When we ask leaders how much time they dedicate to the management of their team, we regularly hear “๐ฎ๐บ ๐ฅ๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ช๐ด ๐ข๐ญ๐ธ๐ข๐บ๐ด ๐ฐ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ช๐ง ๐ข๐ฏ๐บ๐ฃ๐ฐ๐ฅ๐บ ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฅ๐ด ๐ฎ๐ฆ”.
The “open-door policy” is great in theory, however, in practice this management approach should never be an end in itself. Often doing more harm than good. There will be many issues that you’ll never see unless you look. It’s your job to predict problems before they escalate. These problems are expensive to fix and won’t come to your doorstep.
So why doesn’t an open door policy approach work?
๐๐บ๐ฝ๐น๐ผ๐๐ฒ๐ฒ๐ ๐ฎ๐ฟ๐ฒ ๐ฎ๐ณ๐ฟ๐ฎ๐ถ๐ฑ ๐๐ผ ๐๐ฝ๐ฒ๐ฎ๐ธ ๐จ๐ฝ
Research of 200 individuals from all levels and functions, found that employees often choose to hold back from sharing information that could be beneficial for the company (Edmondson). It takes an extremely brave employee to willingly take the risk to go to their boss or their bosses’ boss to tell them about problems. That even assumes that the employee knows what the problem is well enough to explain them. Even on teams where there is trust, many problems will never come to you
๐ฌ๐ผ๐’๐ฟ๐ฒ ๐ฆ๐ผ ๐๐๐๐ ๐ฌ๐ผ๐๐ฟ ๐ง๐ฒ๐ฎ๐บ ๐๐ผ๐ป’๐ ๐ช๐ฎ๐ป๐ ๐๐ผ ๐๐ผ๐๐ต๐ฒ๐ฟ ๐ฌ๐ผ๐
Some managers give out the energy of being so busy, that team members decide for themselves not to bother you. You might appear to them as being stressed, overwhelmed or consumed by another project. Even though you’ve been clear about your open-door policy, you send out a mixed message
๐ฌ๐ผ๐ ๐๐ฒ๐ฐ๐ผ๐บ๐ฒ ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐ง๐ฒ๐ฎ๐บ’๐ ๐๐ต๐ถ๐ฒ๐ณ ๐ฃ๐ฟ๐ผ๐ฏ๐น๐ฒ๐บ ๐ฆ๐ผ๐น๐๐ฒ๐ฟ
When your open-door policy does work and people come to you, it can also create a different type of problem. Many managers get promoted because they are experts at their job. But, in their new role, they miss the instant dopamine hit of solving a problem. So when their team comes to them with interesting problems to be solved, they can’t help themselves and use their expertise, position or authority to fix it. Over time, this creates an unwanted dependency, killing your #productivity & disempowering your team.
๐ฆ๐ผ ๐๐ต๐ฎ๐ ๐ถ๐ ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐ฎ๐น๐๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ป๐ฎ๐๐ถ๐๐ฒ?
Here are 4 to get you started:
1: Ensuring your ๐ญ-๐ฎ-๐ญs go beyond a basic check-in. You can use these as a great way to understand what your people are working on and surface issues early (check out our latest video on 1-2-1s in the comments below)
2: ๐ฉ๐ถ๐๐๐ฎ๐น๐ถ๐๐ถ๐ป๐ด ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐๐ผ๐ฟ๐ธ of the team can also help you identify potential bottlenecks, capacity issues, project overruns or zombie projects
3: ๐ฆ๐๐ฟ๐๐ฐ๐๐๐ฟ๐ฒ๐ฑ ๐ฑ๐ฒ๐น๐ฒ๐ด๐ฎ๐๐ถ๐ผ๐ป ๐ผ๐ณ ๐๐ฎ๐๐ธ๐ ๐ฎ๐ป๐ฑ ๐ฟ๐ฒ๐๐ฝ๐ผ๐ป๐๐ถ๐ฏ๐ถ๐น๐ถ๐๐ถ๐ฒ๐, supported by regular progress check-ins are an excellent way to ensure your team is on track
๐ฐ: ๐ฆ๐ฒ๐ฒ๐ธ ๐ณ๐ฒ๐ฒ๐ฑ๐ฏ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ธ ๐ณ๐ฟ๐ผ๐บ ๐ผ๐๐ต๐ฒ๐ฟ ๐๐ฒ๐ฎ๐บ๐. Ask your fellow managers if they can see any potential challenges facing your team.
What is your experience of open-door policies? We’d love to hear your experiences
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