Don’t hide behind walls. I know
lots of CEOs who are just
impossible to get a hold of. …
They’re constantly busy with
one thing or another, they’re
out of the office, in the office,
whatever they’re doing, they’re
busy. So [you need to have an]
open-door policy and not have
lots of walls to jump over and
also constantly going out and
talking to everyone and sitting
down with them for five minutes and making sure that they
feel comfortable talking back
to you and telling you what
they’re thinking about.
If leaders are more comfortable working with direct reports
to start fostering open communication, it is a good place to
start. Even small steps toward
open communication can have
positive results. Open communication will trickle throughout
the organization through the
managers and their teams.
Create an open atmosphere. You
have to be easy with yourself
and easy about talking to everyone and communicating with
everyone. And at the same time,
don’t take yourself that seriously that you think you’re above
everyone else and no one can
tell you anything and everyone
else is wrong and you’re the
only one who’s right just
because you’re the CEO.
Keep in mind that management is as important to the success of the company as those in
other positions are important. A
team environment in which
everyone is working toward a
common goal is vital. Every
team player has a significant
role with equally important contributions.
You get the right feedback
from people. You can be in an
organization where everyone is
a yes-man, and as a result, you
make hugely bad decisions and
everybody says, ‘Yes, yes.’
Having that open communication, having people dare to say,
‘No, that is wrong’ is the most
important thing. Have people
who are honest and not afraid
(for) their jobs because they’re
saying no to you.
Find people who have common
sense. We find people who are
motivated about what we do,
somebody who is excited about
coming and working with us,
who has been successful in past
jobs, who is reliable and has got
integrity and is trustworthy.
Having common sense is
amazingly important. Even
though everyone thinks, ‘That’s
common sense; that’s easy,’ you
wouldn’t believe how many people don’t have common sense. If
people don’t know their right
hand from their left hand, then
it’s going to be difficult to get
communications going.
HOW TO REACH: STEC Inc., (949) 476-1180 or www.stec-inc.com
