Is Your Open Door Policy Killing You?

A common concern I hear from my executive clients is that they have great difficulty with strategy time.  The issue usually presents itself like this: “I can’t find the time to think when I’m constantly being interrupted.”  OK, why are you constantly being interrupted?  The response is usually a form of, “we have an Open Door Policy, so I have to be available to everyone.”

That gets me all curious about what their Open Door policy actually says. What is the intent of the policy?  Is it to let all employees know that, if they unsatisfied with how they are being treated, they can take their concern up the chain of command without concern for reprisal (in other words, that ‘all doors are open’ to them)?  OR does it say, “You can walk into anyone’s office, at any time, regardless of your issue, and interrupt what that person is doing?” Does the policy say, “by virtue of this policy, YOU can determine the priorities and schedule of the president of the company, because ‘the policy says’ their door must – literally – be open at all times?”

Usually, the first response I get is a puzzled look.  The latter definition is what a LOT of people think Open Door Policy means.

“Here is an opportunity,” I tell my client, “to regain control of your time.”

Thinking – which is a legitimate and important responsibility of a top leader – requires some stretches of uninterrupted time.  And Conversation – which is also a legitimate and important responsibility of a leader – needs to occur.  But the two activities are often mutually exclusive.  So, just as you schedule meetings, you should schedule time to think, strategize, design, and plan.”

Open door policy or not, you are allowed to close your door when you are trying to concentrate or work on what they pay you to do – think about the future.  You can manage your ‘accessibility’ – which is the real issue in an open door policy – by declaring specific hours of operation.  For instance, if your best thinking/strategizing time is in the morning, you might say, “I am not available for meetings before 10:30 AM.”  Or you can say, “I have set aside from 1 until 3 every day for unscheduled meetings.  My door is wide open between those hours.”

Finally, you must enforce the boundaries you define. If your Closed Door time is prior to 10:30, and Suzie sticks her head in because she wants to talk to you about her boss, you need to say, “Suzie, now’s not a good time, as I’m in the middle of __X__.  I’m happy to speak with you at 11 today. Will that work for you?”  And unless it’s an emergency, she’ll likely say, Yes.  You both win – she gets access, and you get to operate as a strategic-thinking leader.  And nobody, including you, has to live in constant frustration.

Remember: Leadership is not about a title.  Anyone can be a leader who can effectively manage their own priorities by learning to Just Say No in a way that allows them to complete their Thinking work, yet still allows time for Conversation with others.

P.S. this tip works if you’re a parent, as well, by the way.  Or a co-worker.  Or even if you are on a deadline and your boss stops by – Just Say No does not mean you can’t talk… it just means that you say, I have this Boundary, and I ask that you honor that boundary just now.

Why are you Angry about Happiness?

So, I’m speaking at a conference about happiness and leadership, and I’ve just finished describing a practice for sharing Gratitude to build a more positive workplace.  I invite everyone in the room to experience the power of gratitude, so they are to pair up and share something from the past 24 hours for which they are grateful.

As the room breaks into an excited buzz, I notice one woman sitting in the middle of the room, on the aisle, who is… is she actually Glaring at me?  Yes, that is a look of fierce anger.  So I switch off my microphone, walk over to her and ask, “is there something wrong?”

Through tightly pursed lips she hisses, “yes!  This is totally inappropriate!”

Taken aback by her intensity, I ask, “what is?”

“this is totally inappropriate to have people talking about such things during a lecture!”  She is very visibly angry, now, and her voice is rising.

“um… this is an interactive conference session, not a lecture,” I offer.

“well, this topic is totally inappropriate!”  and she looks away, dismissing me.

“OK,” I think.  “Apparently this conversation is over!”  I literally back away from her, as I am afraid of her anger and do want to turn my back to her.

It takes me a second to shake off her mood, and then I bring everyone back together and continue… and frankly, do not give this woman another thought until the very end of the program, when I ask everyone in the room to stand up for somatic exercise.

At first, she sits rigidly. Then she slowly stands up, but while everyone else in the room is facing me, she pointedly turns to face the side wall of the room.  And she does not participate in the exercise.

As soon as I finish, she picks up her things and races from the room.

Frankly, I want to follow her and give her a hug, and ask, “why are you so angry about happiness?”  Wow.  How much anger can a person hold, such that a conversation about happiness and positive culture cause such an intense, negative reaction?  And what sort of Victim mindset must she hold, that she could be so unhappy and yet feel she could not leave the session?

But she’s gone.  I feel really badly for her.

What’s my point?  I don’t know.  I guess I’m wondering, What must it be like to work with someone that gets upset when other people are happy?  Ick.  And she works in Human Resources!  Yikes!

I just hope someone offers her a smile today.  And maybe a hug.

Remove Barriers to Happiness at Work

A good friend is currently tied up in knots about her workplace culture. The company owner rarely shows up to provide guidance, yet resists giving others the power to put rules and policies into place. So the workplace is chaotic, morale is falling, and my friend is debating whether she will continue to work at a company where she feels like she cares more than the owner does.

Sound familiar? We all know what the Survey Says: while money is an important factor, the MAIN motivators that keep people engaged relate to the opportunity to learn, grow, and do their best work. When working conditions get in the way of our ability to contribute, we get frustrated. My friend claims she could get twice as much done if she could get everyone following a similar process, and she’s not asking for more money to do that – she just wants her boss to ELIMINATE the hassles.

Fact is, the owner of her company could continue to be absentee if he’d show up just long enough to declare an end to some confusing processes. And that’s what most people want from their boss: “Tell me what to do, give me the resources I need, and then get out of my way!”

So as Spring fever kicks in, consider taking some time at your next team meeting to ask, “what’s getting in the way of your doing your best work?” Take notes. Ask the team to prioritize. You won’t be able to address all the barriers, but each one you eliminate will reduce frustration and allow people to use more of their capacity to make progress versus fix problems.

Yes, I’m talking to YOU

By the way… you don’t have to be the one in charge to be a leader in this regard. Sometimes the Boss is simply unaware. So please don’t assume that s/he knows of your misery and is ignoring it. Speak up. Declare that there is an Elephant in the Room, and then request help. Often that’s all it takes to get a conversation going that results in a new process, better access to resources, or clarified expectations.

And once frustration goes down, happiness has a better chance of showing up.

Remember: Leadership is not about a title. Anyone can be a leader who helps to remove barriers that prevent people from being and doing their best.

Communicating Unhappy News

As more and more companies must make the difficult decision to reduce staff and send people packing, I’ve had many leaders come to me and ask for advice on what to tell people when they ask questions. When people suspect a lay off is pending, they shift into constant anxiety.

Yet too many top leaders, for their own reasons, insist on “keeping mum” as the official management policy. And it’s the leaders who are frustrated with that policy who come to me and ask, ‘what should I do?’

I usually tell them, “you may be asking the wrong person!” I’ve gotten myself in trouble on numerous occasions for sharing information with my team that was not “supposed” to be shared. Of course, on the flip side, I’ve generally had great trusting relationships with my teams, whether I was running a 12-person financial unit or a 100-member service team. So it’s a balancing game: please the boss and support secrecy, or improve loyalty and retention of team members. It’s not been a difficult choice for me, ever… but just so you know.

By now I’m sure you’ve guessed my counsel to those managers. Here’s my philosophy: In the absence of news, people will make up their own. Do you want them to believe the rumors or the truth? I also passionately believe that people prefer to hear difficult news directly from their manager. When you are sharing the bad news as well as the good news, people trust you more and won’t be looking for hidden agendas.

Plus, I happen to subscribe to the ‘they are all adults’ story… and they are not stupid or blind, so pretending nothing is happening is simply not a smart option.

Bruce Hennes is a local Crisis Communications expert — he goes in to help companies when big things blow up.  While his work is generally around embarrassment and scandal, I love how his tips for great crisis communication work for many common issues, as well.  Bruce’s coaching around any sort of bad news is to NEVER, EVER try to keep it secret — it will only blow up on you. So his top three rules are:

1. Tell the Truth (they are going to discover it, anyway!)
2. Be the First (let them hear it from you, not from others)
3. Tell it all (share what is known)*

*About #3: don’t wait till you have all the facts. Tell what you do know — and what you don’t know. And if you’re sharing opinion or conjecture, make it clear that it’s just your opinion/guess. That way if reality pans out differently, people will still trust you.

Bruce says that the more YOU talk about an issue (following the above), the faster it goes away.  But once the rumor mill (or the media) have it, they will make up anything that’s missing, and sometimes the story they create is much worse than the Truth!

Over the past month I ‘ve coached leaders at two companies thru this very process.  At one organization they had to eventually lay off 20% of their workforce, but the process was going to take two weeks to fully develop. I urged them to keep sharing everything that was firmly decided as it was decided (rather than waiting till the last minute as people were being sent home), and everyone — those laid off and those who survived — felt much better about the process. Sad? Yes. Betrayed? No.

For many who work in organizations today, the news is grim and the conversations difficult.  How can you keep from falling into depression?

Here’s how: Pay attention to how you’re carrying yourself. You and your coworkers/team may not be able to control the business, but you can always control you, how you respond, etc. You can still be an optimist. Some things are falling apart, yes, AND some things are still working. What you give the most attention to will determine your ability to function and lead through it all.

In happiness, J

Happiness and Hearing Well

I’m in love! With my new headset, that is.

I do a LOT of phone work, and recently more and more I’ve had people saying, “could you repeat that?”  “What did you say?” and so on — especially when I’m leading group calls, where we also have to factor in the Echo Factor, ambient noise, and other auditory clutter.  I tested myself on a few recordings and, sure enough, my beloved headset is apparently having senior moments — fading away, dropping bits of sound, and the like.  I’m very sad, because it is damnably difficult to find a headset that meets ALL THREE of my criteria:

1. I must be able to hear with crystal clarity on my end.
2. The party/parties on the other end must be able to hear ME with crystal clarity
3. It must be comfortable to wear for 5-6 hours at a time

You’d be amazed how rare it is to find all three.  If it’s comfortable, no one can hear me.  If the sound quality is great on both ends, my ear feels numb after wearing the thing for 20 minutes.  Aargh.  I approach shopping for a new headset like I imagine some people look forward to a root canal.

I began my quest a month ago, and have quietly purchased, played with, and subsequently returned a series of inadequate headsets.  It always failed on one of the above three counts.  I even tried a bluetooth headset for my office phone.  That was a riot.  I think it crossed signals with my microwave oven.  Long story there…

Today I stopped by a new office supply store and they displayed some Plantronics headsets I’ve not seen before.  Of course, it’s impossible to test these things in the store — the only way to see if they work is to buy it, test it, then return it quickly.

The Plantronics MX500i (sounds like a sports car, doesn’t it?) is proof that if you keep looking, you’ll eventually find what you want.  First, it’s very light. It fits UNDER my ear, so it does not interfere with my glasses — this is a surprise benefit!  It has a simple Mute switch so I don’t have to always worry about knowing the Mute code when I’m on a teleconference.  It has a volume wheel built into the cord.

And best of all, I can hear beautifully, and all the people I spoke with this afternoon said, “it’s like you’re standing right next to me, Jim!”  Woohoo!  I can’t wait till my next teleclass!

I’m so psyched.   This is almost like finding the perfect dark chocolate bar after tasting a bunch of losers.

Workplace happiness does not take much to achieve.  Just give me a meaningful job, enough autonomy to do it my own way…. and the proper equipment to do it well!  This was the best small investment I’ve made in my business in a long time.  Simple things make me happy!