The principle of an open-door policy is to encourage honest conversations, build trust, and allow employees to approach their manager or any leader within their organisation with feedback and suggestions, or to raise concerns outside formal channels. The purpose is to empower employees to share insights with senior people within the organisation that they would not otherwise share, resulting in positive changes within the business by building trust and ensuring transparency.
When an open-door policy works well, valuable insights into potential problems with existing business approaches, processes, or procedures are gained, making the business more productive and effective. Another benefit is that the employee feels listened to, which helps them feel valued, increases their job satisfaction and improves overall employee engagement.
Whilst an open-door policy has admirable intentions, is it doing more harm than good in your organisation?
An open-door policy is certainly good for employee engagement. However, we have seen the policy misused when employees approach their senior managers or directors with day-to-day matters that could and should be resolved without leadership input. Depending on the leader’s management style, an open-door policy can inadvertently create an environment where employees stop making decisions or solving problems on their own.
Another potential pitfall is that it can undermine the necessary hierarchy of a business; for example, an individual may bypass their own line manager or other key decision-makers who should be involved. This can cause confusion and inefficiency, impacting on the success of the business in the long run.
Along with this, the focus and time of the senior manager or director can be side-tracked, distracting them from their strategic role and from driving the business forward. Whilst leaders need to be open and approachable, it is essential to create boundaries and protect valuable time. If, as a leader, you find yourself distracted by too many low-level issues or by employee idle gossip, something needs to change. Arguably, the most valuable resource a leader has is their time and attention, which raises the question: “Is your open-door policy broken?”
Solutions to the broken open door
Fix it!
A properly functioning open-door policy is excellent for maintaining a connection between senior leaders and employees within an organisation. It encourages a culture of trust and open conversation, which positively impacts employee engagement, productivity and therefore the bottom line. However, for this to work, there should be a clear written policy, communicated and trained to everyone, and then monitored to ensure it is working effectively and that employees are having the right conversations with the right people. Having visibility on how this policy is working will ensure an organisation is able to prevent normal channels of communication being bypassed.
This discussion also challenges how a leader should really spend their time… We’ll save that debate for another blog post.
If you would like to discuss whether your open door policy is as effective as it could be, or on any other aspect of people within your business with one of our expert and industry focussed Senior HR Consultants, get in touch at hello@emphasis.uk.com, call 01794 874232.
By Katherine Revels
