Be approachable
It’s no use asking for input if you’ve built yourself up on an executive pedestal that employees have to scale before connecting with you.
Davis strives to keep herself approachable so employees can saunter up to her in the cafeteria for a quick conversation. But approachability isn’t just about keeping a first-name basis with everyone. In some cases, it may mean recognizing that not everyone will know you by name, so you must initiate by reaching out to everyone.
“First of all, I don’t always wear my name tag,ȁ
D; she says. “So I talk to people who may or may not even know that I’m the president.”
After you’ve set the ball in motion, you can rely on word-of-mouth, at least to some degree. But back up what employees say by directly reinforcing how you want them to interact with you.
“I think that stories are told between employees, that she’s easy to talk to or she’s open,” Davis says. “When people see that I’m in the cafeteria and somebody says, ‘Hey Pam,’ that sort of sets the stage that it’s OK for other people to do that, as well. When I make rounds, I say to people, ‘Look, please say hello to me when you see me,’ so it sort of just becomes the norm.”
In order to make that happen, you have to give employees the chance to see you out and about. You’re not going to seem approachable, or even accessible, if you sit behind closed doors all day.
Like the rest of her managers, Davis conducts rounds where she walks around various departments and chats with employees. She follows a template for questions but makes them open-ended to invite discussion and input. She’ll ask, for example, “What things are working well and why? What changes would help you do your job more effectively?”
Davis also offers opportunities for employees to have intimate meetings with her. Employees can sign up for Coffee with the President, and then 10 to 12 names are randomly drawn to meet with her. In those settings, the key to encouraging input is creating an open environment. That boils down to two words for Davis: open communication.
“[It’s] allowing people to ask questions and have you respond,” she says. “You just have to set that style of open, two-way communication.”
At the onset of a meeting, explain the kind of communication you expect, as Davis does for her sessions of Coffee with the President.
“I tell everyone when they come that there are no rules in the forum except that I’d like to have everyone talk,” she says. “I tell them that what we’re looking for are common themes that might make a difference for everyone. For example, parking would come up.
“So then we would follow up with an e-mail to all employees saying at one of the Coffees with the President there was confusion over parking, and here’s what we have now done to rectify that. Once people see that there’s some action and that there’s no punishment, there is no problem with having people come prepared with ideas and information that they want to share.”
That follow-up piece is crucial. When employees hear directly from you — whether in face-to-face meetings or through weekly e-mails — what becomes of their ideas and how you used their input to make your decision, it reinforces the fact that you are listening.
Talking about employees’ ideas makes you seem accessible for future ideas — especially when you share ideas that didn’t quite cut it in reality. Employees will admire the humility it takes to share failures as well as successes.
“You have to be able to be wrong and acknowledge that,” Davis says. “If you’re never wrong, you’re probably not making enough decisions. In fact, the statistics do support that you have to do a lot of new things in order to have one of them succeed. And that requires some humility.
“We tell stories about the successes and things that went wrong. When there’s no punishment having tried something and having it fail, that really sets the stage for taking appropriate risk.”
How to reach: Edward Hospital & Health Services, (630) 527-3000 or www.edward.org
