It seems to me that successful companies, managers, and leaders exhibit several common traits, one being they listen to their people, a lot. Taking the time to listen to what your employees/teams have to say (and taking it seriously i.e. assessing and acting on it) is so impactful on how you run your business, I am still stunned that everywhere I turn I see the total opposite, and I wonder…why is that?
It may be that it just isn’t part of the culture. It may be that management doesn’t feel it’s important enough to listen to their people. It may be that since the benefits of gathering input from your teams isn’t immediately visible or tangible, it’s stricken off as a soft benefit. It may just be that managers don’t want to be overshadowed by their employees. It may just be bad management/leadership skills.
Whatever the reason, companies that continue to disregard their teams, or don’t take the time to put the right processes/systems in place to collect regular feedback from them will be at a serious disadvantage to others that do. It’s no less important than listening to your customers.
Now, if you’re a CEO, leader or business owner, unless you are a one man show (or the flash) running every single part of the company yourself, there is no way you can know every bit of important information from the front lines all the way through to your senior management team without proper communication. Something is going to fall through the cracks…
Providing your teams with a platform to voice their opinions, to be heard, to provide feedback:
Helps you identify problems quickly, assess and address them before the become a serious drag on your business. Help you to be agile.
Allows you to collect awesome ideas from your people and promote the best ones to improve your business.
Allows you to celebrate big (and small) successes with your entire group. Everyone loves a group celebration.
Helps you discover star employees and nurture them. Helps you to grow and retain the right people.
Boosts your company’s morale by involving your employees in the decision making process and increasing their engagement. According CLC Genesee research “shifting an individual employee from low engagement to high engagement can increase discretionary effort level by 60%, improve employee performance by up to 20%, and significantly reduce recruitment costs”.
A friend of mine frequently says you should use your senses in the proportion that they have been given to you, 2 ears and 1 mouth, or listen more and talk less. More companies should follow this rule and listen to what their employees have to say. They might just surprise you.
Some SAAS tools that do a great job facilitating team feedback are: 15five or Weekdone. Check them out.