iClarify | Simplify | Engage

Think about how you act everyday; employees learn more about you from your behaviour than they do from your messages. You tell employees that they are important to you, but: You never ask them how their day is going; it’s because of your crazy schedule. You walk by them all the time with your head down, thumbing your Blackberry. You don’t have time to answer their questions or meet with them. If this is the case, you can post messages on your Intranet site and send them all the memos in the world about how important they are to you but because of what you do, but they won’t believe you.  If employees really are important to you, you need to show them, not tell them.  Then, and only then, will they get the message.

Giving employees a way to voice their thoughts, opinions and suggestions about the business has multiple impacts. Offering opportunities for employees to give feedback allow them to: Become more engaged as they feel someone is listening. Come up with creative solutions to operational problems. Share intelligence to which leaders are not exposed. Inform leaders of what employees are thinking and what their needs are. Ignoring employee input makes as much sense as ignoring customer input. If you’ve ever watched the reality show UNDERCOVER BOSS , you’d know that until executives get their hands dirty, it’s difficult for them to run their business well. The show follows high-level corporate executives as they slip anonymously into the lowest level jobs within their companies to find out what their employees really think about the business and to discover/uncover ways to improve the business. It’s tough for leaders to conduct an undercover boss operation in their own organizat...