Listen to input
You may feel you need to get buy-in for a message, a change or anything else that may need employee support. But Ryan sees it a different way.
“I’m a big proponent of getting input but not merely buy-in,” he says. “I think somewhere along the line, managers have thought it acceptable to get approval or buy-in for a decision. I think it’s far more important to actually get input from people at all levels that either help you make the best decision possible, or if the decision has already been made, to modify it according to the input you are getting.”
To create a culture where you receive constructive input from employees, you can’t retaliate when someone gives negative feedback.
“You have to create a situation where people’s input is valued and there is no fear of retribution,” he says. “Here, the culture is one of civility and respect where people can disagree without being disagreeable. That’s a big part of our culture — that it’s respect above all, it’s professionalism above all. We don’t retaliate; we want the input.”
Explaining the rationale behind a decision can also open doors for people who might want to give feedback.
“(It’s) not just talking with them, but actually taking their input in the environment where they know we have been open in the past and they trust us, and they respect the process,” he says. “The process has taken their input as part of the decision-making and that they respect the decision-makers even if they disagree somewhat with the decision.”
Yet, getting
input on the front end of a decision isn’t enough. You need to keep your antennae up and listen to feedback after the decision has been made just in case any changes need to be made.
Years ago, the company decided to switch health care providers for economic reasons.
Ryan and those who work with the benefits within the company started to get a slew of complaints about the change. They heard how hard it was for a doctor to accept it, how distracted the benefits people became and how demoralized the staff had become because of the change. So, instead of ignoring the complaints and focusing on the economic reasons for the switch, the company took action. After about 18 months, Ryan and his team decided they would reverse the decision.
If there wasn’t a culture of open, honest communication, things could have festered a lot more and the situation could have become worse. Since the employees felt comfortable communicating and the leadership listened, the problem was solved.
“Nothing makes (employees) happier than to be part of the decision-making process and part of the monitoring process afterward,” he says. “I think leaders sometimes make a mistake by making a decision and moving on. You need to make a decision and monitor it.”
Though Ryan focuses more on getting input, buy-in is needed for success, and that is why getting the input is so important.
“It’s key to it,” he says. “People will adopt it as their own. It’s no longer me trying to convince lawyers, particularly, that I’m right when they are skeptical by nature. If I can make them part of the process, and it’s partly their decision, it A, improves it — it’s a better decision usually. And it’s joint. It’s community at that point.”
Of course, not everyone will buy in to your decision. In fact, you might even have an employee who is against everything that is proposed. Ryan has run in to a few employees like this, but he doesn’t ignore them. Instead, he will address them separately and listen to what they have to say.
“There is two parts of it, I guess,” he says. “I try to understand if there is a good faith disagreement over a decision or over strategy. If so, I need to understand why and determine if the decision needs to be modified to accommodate the legitimate concern or to improve the process or the output of the decision.
“If I am really confronted with the flamethrower who … brings more heat than light … I need to move around them, essentially, so they don’t distract the management team. You often will find those people will isolate themselves. They will be standing alone shouting into the wind.
“We often will just tell them we moved on and this is the decision, and we explain the rationale to them and we basically move on.”
Explaining the rationale behind a decision is key for a more open and collaborative culture.
“What they need to do is explain in very understandable terms to whatever constituencies the rationale for why decisions were made,” he says. “(Employees) don’t need to hear about it from a newspaper, they don’t need to hear about it from the grapevine, they need to hear about it not just from the CEO but from the firm’s leadership — why decisions are being made, and be very open about that and get out in front of it.”
