How do you go over key objectives and figure out whether you
need to make course corrections in that huddle format?
It is confronting, each week, actual results and what is
happening in the world around you, then collaboratively agreeing along as many
levels of the organization as possible, even down to line employees as much as
you can. They might have visibility or sight of an issue as to what needs to
happen going forward.
My style is that I like to lead in a very democratic fashion,
but in reality, business leaders, especially if you’re betting the farm on a
decision and you have to make it immediately, sometimes have to go to a more
autocratic style of decision-making.
How do you ensure that employees are taking advantage of the
communication opportunities provided by management?
One thing we learned is that there is always an open-door
policy, so any day someone can walk into my office or their manager’s office,
and we encourage feedback. In a group setting, the town-hall setting is a
specific forum for Q&A and inputs. Although what we’ve learned over time is
that some people aren’t comfortable contributing through an open-door policy or
in a group setting town, so what we’re starting to increasingly see is, for
lack of a better word, a suggestion box. In other words, it is necessary to
give your employees a means to communicate thoughts in an anonymous manner. To
that extent, we’ve set up a vehicle where people can make a suggestion, comment
or logic question in anonymity. It’s those three prongs: open door, town hall
and suggestion box — which means to simply provide some kind of anonymous
mechanism for communication.
Is that type of communication something you have to hammer
away on from the first day someone is on the job?
If that is not how the business was run prior, then there is
sort of a period of getting people comfortable with that style. What is most
gratifying for me is that people, especially line employees, are very
appreciative if you share that level of information. Most organizations won’t
do that. My opinion is the organizations who don’t do that, who don’t seek
input from their employees, are doing a disservice to themselves and to their
shareholders. But it does take some time to build that operational tempo where
people get comfortable, both higher up and the folks below me on the
organizational chart that have been exposed to it. You’re changing a paradigm.
How to reach: Odyssey Marine Exploration Inc., (813) 876-1776 or www.shipwreck.net
