Handling the Tough Employee Questions
There is a tendency in many organizations to hide from the tough questions that employees sometimes ask. In fact, in doing so, companies end up silencing input and feedback that can be extremely valuable to them. As a corporate communication professional I’ve always been interested to observe this phenomenon.
At one large organization I worked for my department monitored the forums on the company intranet. From time to time I would receive a call from one of the VPs asking me to "take down" a particularly critical, direct or challenging question or comment posted by an employee. I would valiantly attempt to dissuade them, and often succeeded – but not always.
The curious thing to me about these conversations was the somewhat "magical thinking" that seemed to take place here. Does taking down – or ignoring – a question or comment make it go away? No. In fact, that type of censorship tends to increase employee angst, rather than stifle it, I’ve found.
In fact, company leaders that use these comments as an opportunity to address an issue that obviously exists, do so to their benefit. Don’t ignore the comments! Respond to them! It’s your chance to raise awareness, increase understanding and minimize the grumbling that is otherwise likely to ensue.
I’ve always viewed these kinds of inputs and open forums as great opportunities to hear what’s going on. Leaders shouldn’t try to hide from the issues. In fact, they should seek them out. Now granted, there are sometimes employees who abuse the privilege to have a sounding board (or may be perceived that way), and you can’t form broad assumptions based on a few contentious staff members. But, again, what you can and should do is use these forums yourself to correct misconceptions, stifle speculation and drive conversations toward more productive ends.
Ignoring it, erasing it or "taking it down" doesn’t make it go away. Never has. Never will. What to do instead:
- Establish guidelines for input. These guidelines might include not allowing anonymous posts, "no profanity," and even a request that when a complaint or problem is raised, that a positive solution or alternative be raised as well. (Don’t go overboard with the criteria, though; that can be just another way to minimize input.)
- Set a positive communication tone by acknowledging and responding promptly and directly to any and all inputs that follow the criteria you’ve established.
- Train others in your organization – senior leaders, managers, supervisors, etc. – who are likely to receive comments, complaints and suggestions on how to respond appropriately. Offer the services of your HR or corporate communications departments (if you have them) in drafting these responses.
- Learn from the inputs you receive. Have an open mind and be alert to the truth that can lie behind even the most snarky comment. Better to hear the grumblings first from employees than from customers or the general public, right?
- But, don’t jump to conclusions – if you have a sense that there is an issue or concern among employees, test that assumption formally before acting.
- Remember that responding to a comment, complaint or recommendation doesn’t require that you agree with or act on the comment, complaint or recommendation. It’s perfectly fine to say: "I heard you, I disagree – here’s why." You’d be surprised at the power that simply understanding why can have for most employees.
Are you taking steps to ensure that you’re capturing the value of all employee inputs – the good, the bad and the ugly? What are you doing? What are you learning? Share in the Comments field below.
Copyright © 2010 Linda Pophal
