Copyright National Research Bureau Aug 2004"Cost-cutting measures" is a familiar byline on the financial statements of most companies these days. Employee morale, however, does not have to be cut along with expenditures. You can motivate workers without spending an extra dime. That process begins with a listening ear.
At the outset, consider why listening is so necessary in today's business environment. Companies consist of an assortment of relative strangers, engineered in multi-level reporting relationships. Each of these people sees company problems and opportunities through a somewhat different window. No two employees share exactly the same perspective. Good managers must resolve, therefore, to listen to what's really going on in the heads of their people.
What a manager hears, of course, can at first be disheartening. Employees seem to focus if on their own assumptions rather than the "clear message" the manager may have tried to send. Often, employees appear unwilling or unable to see the big picture because their specific responsibilities limit their view. Using the tools, skills and ideas they think are appropriate to their job description, workers have difficulty thinking outside the box for solutions and alternatives that aren't obvious.
A manager must pierce through the noise of business-asusual to hear what makes people tick. Good management is not just assigning duties and providing training. As Stephen Covey writes in Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, "We must focus on relationships and results rather than time and methods." The savvy manager realizes each employee's involvement, energy and creativity vary with that person's specific set of work goals and career goals. Listening to what an employee is trying to do helps a manager figlife out what that employee can do.
Employees come alive as contributors and problem-solving partners when they perceive a manager or the company itself is meeting their personal goals. By contrast, that motivation falls off when employees perceive their goals simply aren't heard or don't matter. Like members of a sports team, each employee has control over what he or she will give to the group effort at work. Companies that don't encourage their workers to contribute their individual shares of talent shouldn't be surprised when production slows and projects fall through for lack of commitment and innovative ideas.
Two practical tools for providing in-depth listening are SkipLevel meetings and 360 degree feedback systems.
Skip-Level Meetings
Skip-level meetings can help to break through layers of bureaucracy, as managers meet directly with subordinates to disseminate important organizational goals and information. They also serve as a great way to share information from managerial meetings and senior executive input.
The important aspect of this device is timeliness, as it frees workers from having to depend on the grapevine for second- or third-hand information. As a result, skip-level meetings (which include a leader and non-managerial employees) help to improve the intra-organizational communication process, producing positive morale. This works much like an open-door policy, as workers sense they have direct access to key leaders in an organization. Subordinates feel their managers are credible, as people consider the communication more effective when it comes on a personal level.
Skip-level meetings also provide an excellent vehicle for twoway communication between managers and non-exempt employees. Advanced Fibre Communications (a prominent telecommunications company in Petaluma, California) holds quarterly all-employee meetings, where the CEO and other top executives address workers directly and answer questions from among the 1,000 employees. In addition, the Controller uses skip level meetings to answer questions employees have about strategic objectives of the Accounting department and of the company as a whole. The Manufacturing Director has also used skiplevel meetings to share new corporate strategies and to motivate workers to meet new goals. Employees are allowed to give suggestions about how their needs, such as career goals and goals for the department, can best be met. Finally, skip-level meetings serve as a good tool for managers to dispel faulty rumors that may have crept up, in between meetings.
Skip-level meetings energize people by providing viable, grass roots input for corporate interests and concerns. When your staff has input on corporate goals, they will own them. Such meetings can help workers overcome the hurdles sure to occur along the way to achieving company objectives. Listen not only for what you want to hear but also for what you don't want to hear.
360 Degree Feedback System
Like a compass, 360-degree feedback systems act to help managers gain a panoramic view of the impact they are having in the work landscape. While the 360-degree method has gained popularity over the last few years among corporate leaders for employee developmental purposes, the feedback system can also serve as a listening device for managers to provide information about how well they are communicating. What's more, when employees are allowed to give input about how their manager's style is being perceived, empowering results take place.
For performance evaluations, the traditional supervisor-subordinate appraisal still works best. But the 360-degree method serves to help managers gain insights into how they are being perceived by others. One of the keys to this tool is anonymity, since some people would share insights they would not otherwise reveal when facing the receiver directly.
"Raters" are people who routinely interact with the person receiving input, and they are recruited from among superiors, peers, subordinates, suppliers, among other internal and external customers. The number of responses is not so important as the relevance of the feedback. The most effective application of the device provides input on behaviors employees can readily see. Additional insight can be gained, as recipients of the process compare their own perceptions of effectiveness with that of others.
The value this method provides to supervisors is that it does not rely solely on input from their superiors, who rarely have a full perspective of the manager's effectiveness. Rather, the people who work under the manager can now give helpful feedback about how their superior is being received, without fear of reprisal for being honest. Again, this method is not meant for evaluations but is provided for those who sincerely want to improve performance. The result is that one's skills can begin to blend with the needs of the group. That is why this feedback tool fits well with team-based workplaces.
In short, the 360-degree feedback system provides several advantages. First, much time can be saved, as ineffective managerial methods are exposed directly, rather than potentially causing a revolving door effect in a department. Secondly, the tool helps a team, as a whole, learn more effectively. As employees give feedback about their manager's performance, they feel their ideas make a difference and they are more willing to respond to future direction. Third, managers become aware of personal developmental needs that can contribute to the morale and goals of the entire organization. Another helpful side effect is the manager can receive valuable personal feedback about how internal and external customers value his or her products or services. A final benefit is since many people give the feedback, discrimination and personal insults can be avoided because the focus is not on one or two impressions.
There are some precautions to observe, however, when using 360-degree feedback methods. Perhaps the greatest drawback occurs when the procedure is not carried out in conjunction with organizational goals in mind. Sometimes, managers who receive 360-degree feedback are left to figure out how to deal with results on their own, without clear guidance about how to make things better. For instance, is customer service a primary goal of the organization? Then make sure to ask how internal and external customers are being served. For this reason, a group of people who actually have to live with the results of the feedback should be chosen to develop input procedures.
The 360-degree process can be misapplied, if raters in the process do not receive adequate training as to how to provide feedback. In addition, there is the danger that input can leak over into performance evaluations, so proper guidelines are essential, while emphasizing the context of this method.
Another potential negative , side-effect of 360-degree feedback comes from the fact it is usually anonymous. While some researchers believe raters give more honest feedback under anonymity, some feedback providers take this as an opportunity to vent their frustrations, or they give glowing responses.
If a manager wants clarification or further understanding, it is difficult to solicit information when the feedback is anonymous. This is where well-trained administrators can step in to monitor the process and keep feedback on track. To cure this pitfall, a good administrator of the process could act as a discreet liaison to probe for more specific insights. Or, when a manager has good rapport with employees and they do not fear reprisal for giving honest feedback, a facilitator could create a one-on-one environment for feedback.
There are many good resources available to help organizations embark on the 360-degree feedback loop. You can even go to an online company for help at http:// www.360-degreefeedback.com.
The manager who listens well will quickly discover the roles of facilitator, energizer and resource person are vastly more effective than the roles of lecturer or commander in achieving company goals. Best of all, the listening approach to increased motivation and productivity comes at no additional cost to the company.
The bottom line is employes at all levels want to know their insights and efforts matter to their managers and company. When workers feel excluded, they become secluded. Simply listening to your employees affords the motivational results money can't buy.
| [Author Affiliation] |
Bryan Fisher is a free-lance writer with a B.A. from U.C. Berkeley and is cprrently completing his M.B.A at the  University of San Francisco. His professional background includes 15 years in several industries, including petroleum products, life insurance, executive search, compensation consulting and telecommunications. He also holds a Master of Divinity degree and has had several years' experience working with non-profit organizations. |
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