Talking the talk

Ken Jones, general manager, Turner Construction Co., Cincinnati division

Keeping open communication with your
employees and customers is important. But
it’s also important for employees to openly
communicate not just with management
but also with each other, so they know they
can turn to colleagues when a problem arises or to gain new insight on work.

At Turner Construction Co.’s Cincinnati division, General Manager Ken Jones has developed a way to connect his 200 employees
together. Jones and Mark Terhar, the company’s operations manager, conduct round-table
discussions once or twice a week during
lunch with about 10 employees from all different levels. The sessions started about three
years ago for new employees but grew from
there and are now used to help Jones feel the
pulse of the organization and get new ideas
from employees.

“Now, we depend on these round tables to
inform us about a host of items, including
productivity ideas, morale, the market and
anything else they want to talk about,” he
says. “I look up to the people who work for
me. And I try hard not to lose sight of that.”

To make these types of sessions effective,
you need to create a comfort level where
employees feel free to say anything and
build that trust so they know they won’t be
punished for bringing information forth.
Jones says he loves when employees share
rumors, because he’s able to explain the factual ones and dismiss the fictional ones.

“If there’s a rumor, more often than that
they already know the answer … sometimes
they may just be testing to see how we
answer a question, and the more honest we
can answer the question, that develops the
trust with them,” Jones says. “If they already know the answer and we answer wrong,
they’ll call us on it.”

Once employees start sharing the information, you need to listen more than talk.

“As Mark and I conducted more and more
of these, we learned that if we shut up and
just listen, we can learn as much as they
can,” Jones says.

After you hear those ideas, you cannot let
employees just sit and wait — you need to
follow up with them. Jones says every idea
that you actually follow up on gives you
more credibility as a leader and lets employees know you are listening to them.

He follows up directly with the person, but
sometimes it comes through a note or e-mail.
Direct contact with the individual has a bigger
impact rather than sending out a mass e-mail.

People are an important asset to any business, and getting them to interact together
makes better employees.

“The more comfortable the staff feels
with us, feels with me, feels comfortable
walking in my office, and sharing a concern or an issue or bringing an idea, then
we will be leveraging the organization better,” Jones says.