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The Door to My Office is Always Open! ...or is it?

Guest post by: Tom Lemanski

Article Overview: We're all challenged to make better and faster decisions. How do you do this? One way is can expand your sphere of information and thereby minimize the amount of guesswork involved. This month I've called on Bob Newhart and Tom Peters to help examine some traditional approaches for getting to the real story and why they often fail to produce the candor needed to assure that your critical decisions are sound. How effective are your channels for building business insight? You're invited to invest 90 seconds and learn five ways to improve your personal information gathering skills. And I share a new smarter, solution that likely trumps anything you've already tried.

The Door to My Office is Always Open! ...or is it?

The Door to My Office is Always Open! ...or is it?
How do you get the real story?

A recent discussion on tapping knowledge resources led me to consider what works and what doesn't. I recall my first exposure to the concept of an executive open door policy. It was a comedy album that my parents used to enjoy....

"The door to my office is always open. I think you all know why its open. It was stolen and I'd like that returned too." - Bob Newhart, The Button-Down Mind of Bob Newhart

The physical state of your office door is less significant than your mindset for seeking insight from your stakeholders. They include anyone who is impacted by the success of your organization and can hold valuable insight into what's really going on.

When you're spending most of your time working in your business rather than on your business, you're likely creating unspoken barriers to both seeking and receiving information from those with the real story about your operation and your marketplace.

Beyond the Open Door

The open door policy is a reactive approach to seeking information. Tom Peters' 1982 best seller, In Search of Excellence: Lessons from America's Best Run Companies, suggested a more proactive approach to seeking stakeholder insight. He used the acronym, MBWA: Management By Wandering Around. He discussed the value of getting out from behind your desk and into the field or on to shop floor and meeting with customers, vendors and employees.

While Bob Newhart and Tom Peters are dated references, is the need to understand our stakeholders' needs, capabilities and challenges any less relevant today?

How Do You Rate?

* How approachable are you, really? Are you getting the candid feedback you need?
* How proactive are you in seeking the real story: not only what is happening, but why?
* When is the last time you took a stakeholder to lunch? How frequently should you be doing so?
* How much proactive wandering have you done in the past week? How might you improve?
* Do you use a "My door is always open" mindset as an excuse for not proactively seeking the information you really need?

Your answers are out there. Just don't expect them to come knocking on your door. In fact, in our world of excessive political correctness and cover your tail mindsets, all of your wandering around and open door invitations can still fail to deliver what's really needed for effective decisions: candor. And how much wandering around time do you really have?

A More Effective Solution

I've discovered that as an unbiased outsiders, we can gather candid information about what your people are really thinking and why. This insight is impossible for insiders to acquire. And paraphrase Master Card, the insight is priceless. So if you want the real story, we would be honored to discuss how you might profit from getting to the truth of your situation.

Related Articles
  Is Your Open Door Policy Killing You?
  People Management - Having An Open/Closed Door Policy
  Lesson #4: An Open Door is A Company Score
  The Secret of Door to Door Street Marketing
  Customers that care

Article Tags: open door policy



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