We have experienced too many enterprises where employees try to raise important issues, helping to identify needs which ought to be addressed, but nothing gets done due to weak and indecisive management which does not focus on their most precious resource; people.
One of our key aims is to stimulate leaders and employees to act in the freedom of a framework, contained within agreed boundaries, and encourage them to share ideas and ask questions. Not always easy given so many senior managers truly believe they know best and everyone in the enterprise should just follow their detailed instructions; do as they are told and only explore how things are done, never mind why or explore what might be done differently.
Consistent indifference by weak leaders, and lack of listening to employees, smothers their desire to ask questions and share ideas. This lack of respect has devastating effects on morale. When employees are recognized and efforts are made to address their concerns, then confidence in, and commitment to, the enterprise can really take off.
If you lead an enterprise or a unit within an enterprise, you must learn several key lessons about fostering an environment where people are enthusiastic and motivated to come to work each day. Ensuring a collaborative and supportive corporate culture makes sure employees experience the most productive working environment where they know they can express their views and be heard.
If people are afraid to express a contrary opinion, or if they are smothered and not allowed to voice opinions, then enterprises get into massive trouble. On the other hand, when people feel and think they are in on things, at the centre of decision-making, where their voice is heard, where they are seen to be important, leads to healthier and more sustainable success.
You may not always like what you hear, but you absolutely must have an environment where people can offer opposing viewpoints. Employees appreciate the opportunity to learn more and share their views on purpose, vision and direction.
Your key task is ensuring you train your people to know the enterprise’s purpose, guiding them to focus on achieving current mission and hitting the key performance indicators on the journey to the vision; embodying the agreed and explicit values.
Efforts encouraging and supporting open dialogue, discussion and debate will have a direct impact on improving how things are done in the enterprise, the culture underpinning all communication and activity.
Unity in diversity and parity of esteem are two constructs which will make a huge difference. Recently we were told senior management were not interested in what employees thought and these same people were not encouraged to ask questions; we were not surprised to learn this organization was in serious trouble. Supporting and rewarding people who behave with respect towards their colleagues, customers and suppliers will make an amazing difference to how your enterprise is viewed, its image and its reputation; bankable return on investment on your efforts.
It takes courage by employees to be willing to ask questions and to speak up. And it also takes courage to be the sort of leader who tolerates having people who disagree with them. Being this type of leader is to be encouraged; one who avoids the natural instinct to surround themselves with people who mirror their own background, culture and opinions. Yet we find so many leaders who just cannot do it.
We encourage everyone in an enterprise to be bold. The value of this is people will become excited to be a part of an enterprise which is far more likely to succeed over the long term.
Yet all leaders, including CEOs, have higher-level authority to report to, which may not be keen on a strong leader’s desire to treat his or her employees like the adults they are. These higher-level leaders may only care about treating people as units of production. This makes it hard to be a strong leader because strong leaders have to speak their truth on a frequent basis, and that can be very challenging to do. We must applaud strong leaders for bringing themselves to work so authentically; not an easy approach to managing themselves, their enterprises and their people.
So often, such good leaders attract massive levels of negativity from their masters and colleagues who cannot bring themselves to be such authentic, transformational leaders. We know of one organization where the CEO has been changed three times in the space of three years, where employees are totally demoralized, purpose and vision has been lost and the owner believes he knows best for everyone. Forecast for survivability of this enterprise is not good.
Authentic, transformational managers encourage employees to speak up; they do not silence people who have something to say. Weak managers do not want their department’s or their enterprise’s dirty laundry to be aired in public, but strong managers want exactly this approach to dialogue and decision making. They want to discover problems and issues. They then want to solve these speedily so their teams can keep racing forward. Isn’t this want you want too?