One of the most important things you need, when you are a CEO or senior leader, is honest and accurate information about what is happening in your organization. How do you do that?
It’s tricky, primarily because no one wants to be the one to tell the boss, especially the BIG BOSS, bad news.
Have you ever told a top boss about a real problem in your organization? Maybe you have a friend who did.
What happens in most organizations in this situation? The boss gets mad at the person who identifies the problem. And then bad things happen to the person who told the truth.
Maybe you’ve even done this as a top leader. I thought I’d never do something like that.
But over time I realized that even well-meaning bosses can send a subtle signal of
frustration or displeasure that will keep front-line employees from being honest.
So how do you manage to learn the truth about what’s going on?
There are a number of approaches which we’ll discuss in upcoming posts.
Here is a list:
Meet directly with people working on the front lines, without their supervisor,
manager, or director present. Let the workers know that what they say will not be
shared with their direct boss or that boss’s boss.
Share examples of how you felt anxious about sharing negative information and
how you now realize the problems it caused.
Don’t ask people what’s wrong. Ask them What’s going well?” “What are you
grateful for in your job?”
Then, when they are thinking positively, ask people specifically, “What do you
think I need to know to help you do your job better?” This gives them a chance to
bring forward problems that need fixing.
Thank them for what they tell you. Write it down. Don’t promise to fix everything
they tell you about, but do find one thing that you can fix quickly and do it. Then
let everyone know about it. Once people know that you will act on what they tell
you, they will start to tell you more.
There are a lot of specific ways to adjust this approach depending on the size of the
organization and the industry you are in. I’m happy to talk with you directly about those.
If you’re interested, you can schedule a call with me here.
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