Leadership - Leadership Development...

You might well be wondering why you would want to get employees to admit dislike of some change in how they do their job. After all, supervisors have enough gripes coming their way without going out and encouraging employees to express their displeasure.

Unfortunately, it's impossible to do anything to correct this sort of problem unless you know the basis for employee discontent. Only by learning what's bothering them in terms of the new working procedures will you be able to devise a plan for dealing with it. Therefore, it becomes necessary for you to seek out bad news, as unpleasant as this task may be.

Naturally, if workers were going to freely discuss their dislike for new practices, they would have come to you with their gripes. When they don't, there can be any number of reasons. Obviously if the lines of communication are poor, then that alone would be the cause. No one but a fool will approach a boss who doesn't like to hear bad news with a complaint. Then again, the reason for a lack of communication could be just the opposite. Perhaps you have good relations with your subordinates and they like and respect you. In such situations, workers sometimes hold back from griping to a boss on the basis that they believe there's nothing that can be done any- way, so why make the boss miserable over a lost cause. Whatever the reason, encouraging workers to be forthright in their concerns over new work practices requires a bit of diplomacy. Most of all, it requires you to take the initiative to inquire about your suspicions. Let's look at a couple of different approaches you can take:

Ask The Office Gossip
As you know, office gossips are a constant source of information who are always ready to divulge what they know-even on occasions when you don't want to hear it. The problem here is that the credibility of office gossips generally isn't too high. For this reason, be careful how you phrase your questions, since they are likely to give you the answer they assume you want to hear, irrespective of whether or not it is true.


Ask For Help
Another tactic you can try is to raise the issue directly in a group meeting with your subordinates. Say something such as, "These new working procedures don't seem to be going too well, although I can't put my finger on the reason. lf some changes need to be made, l would like some information to use when I approach Jones (your boss) about it. Can anyone help me out with some examples of the problems we're dealing with?" This may open up the group to discussing the issue since it now knows you sense there is a problem. Incidentally, notice that the focus was on "we're,'' not "you" in mentioning problems. After all, a worker may be reluctant to admit he or she is having problems because they might reflect on the individual's ability.