For a couple of years now, I have hosted an event called “Pizza with the Prez.” Once a month or so, I have lunch with a different workgroup without their supervisors being present. This provides an opportunity for me to get unfiltered feedback. It’s one of my favorite activities.

The further you move up the chain-of-command, the less likely it is that you will get the truth. Information is filtered, spun, and managed. People either tell you what they want you to know or think you want to hear.

This is why, for example, Czar Nicholas II, the last emperor of Russia, was caught by surprise at the communist revolution. While his generals were brutally suppressing dissent, they were telling him that civil unrest was the result of foreign influence and that his own people loved him. He was caught by surprise when he was forced to abdicate. I’m sure he was even more surprised when the Bolsheviks executed him and his entire family.

This demonstrates the difficulty of getting good information at the top. If you are a supervisor, manager, or executive, you must develop some way of keeping the lines of communication open. You have to provide a pipeline for unfiltered feedback. “Pizza with the Prez” is one of the ways I do this.

Usually, I have ten to twelve people join me for lunch in the boardroom. After a few icebreakers, I always ask them two questions: (1) what do you like about Thomas Nelson and want to see us continue? and (2) what do you not like about Thomas Nelson and want to see us stop doing? Although we only schedule an hour of time together, it’s always a challenge to end on time. I’ve been amazed at how open people are and how many good ideas they have.

I have also noticed a recurring theme: most people’s frustration at work is inflicted by the company’s leaders. Ouch! These workers love their colleagues. They love the company’s mission. They express appreciation for the way communication has improved in the last few years. But they continue to be frustrated by leaders who unwittingly (perhaps) impede their productivity.

Here are the four most common complaints I hear:

1. Managers call too many meetings. Many of them are a waste of time. The subject matter could easily be handled by e-mail. Even those that should be called last twice as long as is necessary. This is because they don’t have a clear idea of what they want to accomplish or a specific agenda to get them there.
2. Managers are often late to their own meetings. Since they called the meeting, the other attendees can’t start without them. As a result, they waste a lot of time waiting for the leader to show up. This really makes them feel disrespected.
3. Managers don’t really understand the work process. They also don’t appreciate the amount of time it takes to complete certain tasks. As a result, they sit on or slow-walk approvals and bog down the whole process. By the time the worker gets a response, they are in crisis mode. If a deadline is missed, they get blamed. This creates a lot of unnecessary stress on everyone.
4. Managers are not responsive. They don’t answer their e-mails. They don’t return their voice mail messages. Workers often feel like they are sending e-mails into a black hole. By the time the manager does respond, the issue is resolved or it has escalated to a new level of urgency. Why can’t they just respond more quickly? How in the world did they get promoted!

If you are reading this post, more than likely, you are not guilty of these behaviors. But, if you are, I hope you’ll take a moment and try to see how frustrating this can be to your people. You may not be able to change your boss, but you can change yourself and provide a better environment for the people you are leading.

Technorati Tags: leadership, meetings, productivity

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