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Open Door Policy - How to Make it Work

April 28, 2007 | Author: PM Hut | Filed under: Management, Uncategorized

Open Door Policy - How to Make it Work
By Nick McCormick

The words “Open Door Policy” evoke fear in many managers. That’s because they’ve witnessed the way their managers have over-reacted to escalated issues, scrambling to assign blame and cover their butts.

Some say the best way to avoid this hellish chain reaction is to put restrictions on the policy. Certain human resource managers will tell you that a true open door policy leads to dysfunction in an organization, because when people leap frog their immediate manager they promote a culture in which problems are not resolved where, and by whom they should be - by those closest to them.

Balderdash! A true open door policy allows any employee to talk to any manager at any level about any issue. If employees are more comfortable going to upper management to solve problems it’s a symptom of a much larger one - either a lack of trust in the immediate manager or the belief that s/he can or will not solve the problem. So, the organization is already dysfunctional. Putting restrictions on the open door policy will only make it more so.

It’s the reaction by managers that really needs to be altered. Managers need to realize that there are more important things than their egos. The key is to address and resolve the problem. The employee should go wherever necessary in order to do so. It’s as simple as that. Upper management should not overreact and beat down their managers. Again, the important thing is to solve the problem. These situations should be looked at as learning opportunities - chances to improve and to grow.

Of course simultaneously convincing all managers in an organization to agree to approach the use of the open door as a wonderful learning opportunity is not feasible, at least in the short term. Instead of worrying about them, as a manager, start with yourself.

Instead of avoiding all mention of the open door in hopes that people forget about it, broadcast it frequently to your team members and encourage its use. Don’t tell people they need to go to you first, prior to going to someone higher up. Rather, tell them that the most important thing is for them to get their issues addressed. Let them know that they have free reign to go to anyone.

This will actually build trust with your team members. Interestingly, it will increase the likelihood that they will go to you first. If they do, and you solve their problems, trust will skyrocket and the need for them to go elsewhere for assistance will be a rarity. An open, honest, caring approach makes for much more pleasant open door experiences.

Nick McCormick is a Principal with Be Good Ventures, LLC — a management consulting firm.  He is author of the book, Lead Well and Prosper:  15 Successful Strategies for Becoming a Good Manager.

http://BeGoodVentures.com/

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This entry was posted on Saturday, April 28th, 2007 and is filed under Management, Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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