Remain transparent. You have to
try to make sure that you’re
doing as much as you can to
be as transparent as you can
so that people have the information they need to do their
jobs. One way to have your
organization fail is to have the
associates feel as though you
are hiding something from them. That’s a great way to not
get work done.
I have both formal and informal ways of communicating
with associates. From an informal standpoint, I believe in the
whole notion of management
by walking around, which is
very important and true. That
allows the individuals who are
working in the organization to
see you as a real person and
not some king or queen in
their office dictating orders
down to the people below.
This whole notion of just
walking around and engaging
the associates on a daily basis
is very, very important.
Oftentimes, you find out a lot
of things going on in the
organization that need to be transferred to appropriate individuals in the organization for
the changes to occur.
From a formal perspective, I
hold town-hall meetings
where I will provide the associates with information
regarding our quality situation
and so forth and so on, and
then allow them to ask any
questions they might have.
That allows us to either confirm or negate any rumors that
might be out there.
With my senior team, we
meet regularly in both formal
and informal meetings to make
sure that we’re all in touch
with what each of us is doing.
The whole idea is to be able to
facilitate collaboration and
integration throughout the
whole body of the organization
to make it work efficiently.
HOW TO REACH: Drake Center Inc., (513) 418-2500 or www.drakecenter.com
