How to Have An Open Door Policy (Part 1 of 2)

Good podcast. My company has a very

Good podcast. My company has a very formal open door policy. I am required to review it with my folks on a regular basis. I still learned a bunch.

Thanks,
- poncho

"Listen in, and we’ll walk you

"Listen in, and we’ll walk you through it."

Ha! Ha! I just got it! Walk us through - the open door! Sorry I'm slow today, and it's really difficult to convey that "Oh NOW I get your your joke" expression in text, on a blog...

But of course, what I really got from the 'cast was this: I hadn't considered before, the assumption that listening to what comes through the open door doesn't have to result in action...

My boss recently made comment to me - referring to dealing with a high maintenance direct with whom no recent manager has sucessfully established a "good" relationship (but I will be the first) - that I should "take action, not just listen".

I pondered this for a while and felt in myself that NOT taking action was the right thing to do, but worried that High-D/I-Bosss might see it as a failure in my management. Now I'm much more comfortable that following one's instinct is a more than valid approach.

Peter

Poncho or anyone, what would your

Poncho or anyone, what would your policy do in this situation:

Our company has no formal open door policy, we are about 70 people strong.

As a manager in a testing lab, my 'product' is our final lab report/failure analysis and they have specific deliverable dates. I've found that if I don't close my door for an hour to properly review reports I get a parade of folks coming in for something and I am terribly inefficient on the main tasks of the lab: Get billable reports out. Does blocking off 1 hour a day on my calendar for report review conflict with an effective open door policy or are these relatively minor interruptions on day to-day things not what the open door is about?

By the way Mark and Mike, thanks for what you do here. Until coming here, I didn't even now what I didn't know.

Best Regards,

Stan DeForest

Stan- Did you listen to the cast?

Stan-

Did you listen to the cast? One of our caveats is that the policy doesn't mean "now".

Glad you're getting value!

Mark

Stan- My apologies if we don't get

Stan-

My apologies if we don't get to that point until part two...but I think we got to it.

Mark

Good podcast as always. I

Good podcast as always.

I appreciate that there will be a part two, and wonder if it will deal with how to ensure that your direct will trust the process of an open door policy. For example, as I have noted in another post, there were times when my direct's directs would come to me to "complain" about how a certain manager managed. My instruction to them was to give feedback to their boss first, and then if nothing happened and they still feel they needed it escalated, to come to me...preferably with the boss to work things out. Otherwise, I would be undermining my direct's authority.

This is one of my main concerns about an open door policy....that people think it is appropriate to just complain about their boss anytime they don't like his or her decision. One thing that they don't realize is that by not trying to work with their boss first and "jumping rank" (unless it is something dire), they are creating a bad relationship with their own boss and trust is also affected.

Tony

Mark- Thanks for the input. I

Mark-

Thanks for the input. I should have waited with questions until after part 2.

Stan

In my military experience I have heard

In my military experience I have heard many leaders talk about their open door policies. One caveat is that they as leaders are free to ask the complainer/questioner what they have done about the issue prior to arriving at their door. This includes asking specifically if they have addressed it through the cahin of command.

As a young Sailor I thought this represented an oxymoronic policy, but in time I began to see the neccessity of the process. I think it's important not only to follow the advice from this podcast, but to ensure all employees understand the rules of engagement from the beginning.

Bob

I work for a big multinational company

I work for a big multinational company and one of the things that is rammed down our throwts all the time is the fact that we are lucky to have this great open door policy. Unfortunately for myself and many other workers this is not as inviting as it sounds. The door may be open but there is a long and winding corridoor to navigate before you can enter it, and by the time you have jumped all the hurdles and dodged all the booby traps you find yourself too stressed to be able to make your point, thats if you make it that far!! And even if you do, and they listen to you in this far away place, you will only be told want you want to hear to make you go away. They know that once you have been to through the agony of getting through this amazing door, you still have to make it back out! My Company uses the open door policy to justify doing and dealing with nothing, and consequently morale (in the public eye) is at an all time low. If you are going to have an open door you should as a business supply your staff with the means to get to it, otherwise its just another door amongst many.