Q. How do you get
employees to buy in to the
culture and give you feedback?
Constant communication.
I’ve never stood up in front of
the group and said, ‘This is
what our culture is about.’ It’s
more along the lines of talking
about the business specifically
and what we, as a company,
can do to improve ourselves.
I try to walk around and joke
with people in the company
just to see where they’re at.
See what the overall mood is, see what the activity is. Make
sure people feel like they’re
appreciated for the work
they’re doing. Make sure
you’re creating the behind-the-scenes relationships that presidents sometimes take for
granted.
The buy-in is not always
going to be 100 percent. You
want to make sure that the
overwhelming feeling of the
company is buying in to what
it is you’re trying to do.
Hopefully, because that sentiment is so strong, it dramatically outweighs and, more
importantly, silences the people in the company who might
not feel the same way.
We get feedback from anybody who wants to give it.
There are people in the company that I have a good relationship with that feel comfortable with me sharing
honestly and candidly about
things that are taking place
beyond the scenes. So when
we’re rolling something out,
I talk to somebody about
what’s a good way to do this,
or, ‘Can you help get me
some buy-in behind the
scenes when there are conversations when I’m not
around and you can explain
why we’re doing these
things?’
You try to get key influential people in the company,
who have a lot of buy-in
from the rest of the team, in
on what you’re trying to
accomplish. It’s not that
you’re trying to manipulate
that, you’re trying to help
them make the decisions
that you’re making better.
If you’re getting constant
feedback from them, but at
the same time, you leave the
door open for anybody to
give feedback, you’re typically going to get a good mix
and have a pulse of where
the company is at.
HOW TO REACH: Trace Communications LLC, (317) 644-5800 or www.tracecommunications.com
