Communicate with your staff
Many CEOs love to talk about their open-door policies. But the
way Eiserman sees it, the open-door policy is a good idea that just
doesn’t go far enough. When a CEO says, “My door is always open,”
it places the burden of responsibility for open communications solely on the back of the employee. It seemed a little one-sided to him.
“I used to think that if you were just approachable and if you instituted your open-door policy that was going to be enough — but it’s
not,” he says.
Instead of sitting in an office and reacting to problems, Eiserman
says CEOs should be more proactive. Get out there and communicate with your staff because the more informed they are, the more
motivated they become. Find out what their concerns are, and do
what you can to help them understand the big picture.
“If you’re trying to build a culture, how could an employee feel a
part of something if they don’t know what’s really going on?”
Eiserman says.
Sometimes, it can be painful to keep up truly honest and open
communications with your staff. When Eiserman was planning for
his first all-staff meeting as CEO, the agency’s HR director gave him
an incredulous warning about a particular item he had placed on the
agenda.
“He said, ‘No, no, no. You can’t do Q&A. You don’t know what
these people will say to you,’” Eiserman says.
That attitude didn’t sit right with Eiserman, and from that day on,
he has made it a point to end each meeting with a question-and-answer session.
No question is off-limits, which means facing some occasional
tough questions.
“‘What happened to this person? Why don’t we have raises?’” he
says. “Sure, you get asked the hard questions, but you also get an
environment where people feel like they can ask questions, and if
they’re not clear on something, they can actually raise it.”
Although the process may sometimes be painful, Eiserman says it
beats the alternative — keeping your employees in the dark.