| The very first project I ever worked on to
improve leadership and workplace communication, I did the only thing I knew how to do in
starting the project. That was to gather information from team members.
In interview after interview, I heard the same lament. It
sounded like this, "we've had a lot of meetings in the past where everyone shared all
sorts of great ideas, but there was never any follow through or feedback on them."
Over time, people in this company stopped offering their
ideas because the impression senior management gave back by not following through or
offering feedback in return was that the ideas were not valued.
This situation has repeated itself many times over the last
six years since I've been working with organizational leaders to improve their workplace
communication.
So, the next time you call a team meeting, or ask for ideas
from your employees (regardless of their level), you must make sure you follow up on the
ideas and let those sharing the ideas know the status and what they should expect.
This doesn't mean you have to apply all the ideas, you just
need to provide feedback as to what you plan to do with each of the specific ideas. This
should be done even if it means a decision was made that the idea was not appropriate and
could not be implemented. All you need to do is provide the reasons behind the decision so
that those supplying the ideas know that their efforts were at least considered. When
giving feedback, don't be overly critical or judgmental. Remember, not everyone has a
business degree, just a desire to be heard.
This will allow your people to feel "heard" and
"valued." Without the closing of the feedback loop, its actually worse than if
you didn't even ask in the first place, because it comes off as disingenuous and gimmicky.
It will gradually erode trust and an interest in engaging and providing ideas again in the
future.
If you want to begin creating a highly motivated and
engaged workforce, this is one of the easiest and least expensive ways to get started.
Don't just pay lip-service, pay attention! |
