When it comes to your firm’s culture there are many things that have to be done in order to optimize the creativity and throughput that you desire.
We have already discussed the importance of flexibility, now let’s look at some of the other considerations your firm has to watch out for when designing an innovative culture.
While this seems like a no brainer a lot of firms still practice closed door scenarios. The author of this article worked for a firm where management routinely shut employees out for large periods of time. For hours of the day 100% of management was inaccessible for any kind of problem or question that arose. This was a major issue since all decisions had to be run through management. If you want to describe an inefficient system look no further, that’s about as bad as it gets.
Employees are going to have questions. They’re going to need approval. They’re not going to bother you relentlessly but they will need your assistance from time to time. Having an open door strategy is important but there’s more to open door strategy than just keeping your door open.
Jack Griffin in How To Say It For First-Time Managers: Winning Words And Strategies For Earning Your Team’s Confidence says that the most effective managers tend to be mentors and coaches as opposed to dictators or anarchists. Along with this comes:
Having an open door strategy sets you up to be more of the coach than anything else. You’re available and able to solve problems – a great leader.
Your company’s employees are smart people – that’s why you hired them. They’re great at what they do and when it comes to that they probably have some amazing things to say. Make sure you not only allow them to talk but that you listen. You want your employees to share the ideas they have about how to make things better. Be sure to allow a way for employees to share these ideas.
In another article we talked about dissent and how by encouraging it your firm sets itself up to be as innovative as possible. Rather than discouraging dissent allow people to talk about what makes them frustrated. Fix those things or give them the power to fix the problems themselves.
Daft and Marcic in Understanding Management talk about personal power – power that derives from an individual’s specific knowledge or personal characteristics. Rather than demand everybody acts the same build a culture that celebrates what makes each individual great.
By becoming a champion of each person’s personal power you set yourself up to have the best possible engagements with your employees. If you appreciate them for their skills odds are they will appreciate you for yours.
The worst thing for any employee is feeling like they’re there to serve the firm or that their contributions are to be taken in never ending and escalating amounts. Instead make sure to show employees that you value them.
The nature of the employee is that they seek a degree of safety. They have mortgages and car payments and they need to know that their jobs are not in jeopardy. Make sure they know that trying new things and failing is not just okay – it’s encouraged.
Your job as a manger of an innovative event is to accept a degree of risk but the employees shouldn’t have to. The best way to remove their feeling of riskiness is to simply tell them that they have nothing to worry about.
You want to be an approachable manager who your employees trust and support. Make sure they don’t feel like they’re going to lose their jobs if the venture doesn’t work out as well as everyone wants it to and provide venues for their feedback and advice.
Whenever you spot a problem or conflict don’t just squash that specific problem, look deeper to find the root causes and stomp those out. Above all else, make sure you champion personal power so employees always feel like a valued member of the team.