Listen to your employees.
It’s an
open communication situation
— I listen to them, hear their
side and listen to their situation
first before I give a response,
feedback and make a decision.
You have to focus on them. I
try to take notes while they’re
talking. I usually tell them in
advance [that] I’m going to
make some notes so I don’t forget, which leads most people to
know that what they’re saying
must be important if we’re taking notes.
By referring to the notes, I can
make sure that I answer all of
the details, questions or concerns. I try not to have disruptions, although generally interruptions do come in.
The bottom line is, look at them
face to face, acknowledge what
they’re saying, and then make
notes. And then, frequently, you
need to respond back to them
— ‘OK, as I understand, you’re
saying this,’ to give them the
feedback that you heard what
they’re saying, and you just want
to make sure, clarify or make
absolutely certain that you understand what their concern was.
Give employees all the information
they need.
You have to give them
all the information that is needed for why a decision was made
or why a certain situation was
handled the way it was. For the
most part, if people understand
the reasons, they’re more inclined
to accept the results or decisions.
Don’t underestimate what your
people understand. They understand maybe more than what
you think they do. Sometimes
we, as managers, think, ‘Well, we
know certain things, and our
employees may not know it, so
I’ll just give them a brief, cursory answer,’ and that’s not the
case. People do understand, and
even if they don’t, they appreciate the fact that you made every
attempt to give them all the
information that you can.
I don’t believe in secrets. The
more information you give
them, the more people are apt
to buy in to what you’re trying
to accomplish.
I usually ask a lot of questions.
There’s an old management philosophy that says, ask the same
question three different times,
maybe three different ways, and
that enables you to hear three
different answers on the same
question or concern. You get better information, more detailed
information and maybe a better
chance at getting to the root
cause. Sometimes the first statement is not necessarily the root
cause or problem of any concern, but if you ask why three
times, three different ways,
you’re more inclined to get that
root cause and get down to the
core of the concern, and you
have a better chance of resolving the problem or understanding what the concern is that
employees have brought in.
HOW TO REACH: Prudential Overall Supply Inc., (949) 250-4855 or www.pos-clean.com
