Open the doors and interact with staff

I overheard of a survey that was conducted in the USA a while ago on deaths of people on formal employment. It was reported that the majority of the people sampled had died on Mondays between 8am and 11am in the morning. In a bid to provide explanation of the findings, psychiatrists indicated that it was possible that the persons had died as a result of forcing their spirits towards the direction of the workplace they hated. This made me wonder how many of the persons reading this article today will wake up on Monday morning towards a workplace they loath.
 

As we consider our feeling about our current workplaces, it is important to note that people work for a variety of reasons. While some work to get money to meet their basic needs in life, other people are motivated by their desire for company, association and the sense of self-worth they get while working and producing positive results. Even in situations when people work for money, one of the key motivators at the workplace is when staff feel valued. When staff feel valued, the employers not only benefit from low staff turnover, but also from enhanced productivity and efficiency. 

One of the tested ways of helping staff feel valued at work is by employment of the open door policy. As much as the open door policy seems to have become a cliché at the workplace, it is a powerful people management concept that would help you turn around your relations with staff at your workplace and make everyone feel pulled to the workplace on Monday morning.

Regardless of the size of your organisation, you would benefit immensely if you employed this policy at work. Open door policy encourages effective communication between the employee and the management. The employees do not feel left out at the workplace as they know there is someone to support them always at the time of need. This way they get attached to the management and are always loyal towards the organization. There is no room for confusion when the employees directly interact with their superiors. They feel motivated and strive hard to live up to the expectations of the management. They never badmouth the management or their organization.

The open door policy encourages healthy discussion at the workplace. Individuals exchange ideas and come to an innovative solution benefitting all. The employees are free to discuss their ideas with the superiors and gain from their talent and mentoring. Gone are the days when people used to fear their bosses. The “Hitler approach” does not work in the current scenario. The management must respect the decisions of the employees to expect the same in return. The management must make the employees feel indispensable for the organization and should lend a sympathetic ear whenever required.

Finally, the open door policy enables the employees to seek their boss’s help and freely discuss things with them for better clarity. The policy is essential for effective communication, proper feedback and better output. With the help of the open door policy, the employees do not crib amongst themselves, rather talk to their superiors, clear all their doubts and look forward towards a long term association with the organization. And so, on a scale of 1 – 10, 1 being poor and 10 being great, how do you fair in respect to implementing an open door policy at your workplace?