Open Door Policy or Open Mind Policy?
I was the key participant in a presentation arranged by MCann on “The Value of Brands” at Sprint RPG (my past employer, where I worked as Head-Marketing for some time). The speaker ended his presentation with these words, “At MCann we have an open door policy. We encourage you to express your true feedback on the brand positioning strategy we have recommended for you”. When he left I heard a couple of people in the front row say with a hint of sarcasm, “Sure, he has an open door policy as long as what you have to say is flattering and doesn’t upset his solution.”
We all have known leaders like this and we all have had similar reactions to them. It is quite apparent that many managers and supervisors don’t listen well and are easily threatened when a challenge or criticism is made by someone over whom they have authority.
In my job at Kinetic Honda, I recall my manager scheduling an appointment to see him for a brain-storming session on ‘Increasing scooter sales through indirect channels’. He wanted to tap my brain. Some of my colleagues were also invited. I should have been suspicious right from the start because in my last two years, he had never once asked my opinion on anything, in spite of exceeding my targets in the toughest locations in North East India. In spite of this I prepared thoroughly and was eager to finally have the chance to share my wisdom and experience. Maybe he was turning over a new leaf.
When the discussion began, he fell asleep within minutes. My colleagues went on with the session, little knowing that the ‘main brain’ was not present. Is that all the time it took to “brain storm?” Since I went with great expectations, I was really taken aback by this. What a blow!! I excused myself convincingly out of the meeting.
Along with proclaiming to have an ‘open door policy’ I think we would all benefit from people in leadership positions declaring that they had an ‘open mind’ policy as well. Managers with an open mind listen attentively to the thoughts, ideas and opinions of others without becoming upset or threatened when a contrary or critical position or opinion is presented. No one, irrespective of their position or level of expertise, has a monopoly on wisdom, insight or correct thinking. Wisdom resides in the collective and not in any one individual.
The following story illustrates what I mean by this.
It seems that a rather prestigious toothpaste company was having problems with their sales and the top-rung management members were at a loss to change the situation. No matter what the management did the sales kept falling quarter to quarter. The fall was not very great, but nevertheless alarming. Incentive schemes were introduced, meetings were held, top management members themselves were active in customer facing situations. But nothing worked.
One day, the VP Sales was getting ready for yet another meeting and went to refresh himself to the rest room. He bumped into a recent hire, a production intern. Striking some light conversation with him, he went on to explain the main agenda of the upcoming meeting. The intern was sharp. He realized that his VP was fighting anger and frustration
“Nothing works. We have to push our sales folks better.” The intern looked up at the VP and said, “Why don’t you increase the aperture size of the tube head? In that way, people will consume more. This will push up the demand from existing customers. At least we will get a breather before we do something more dynamic.”
The VP was stunned. When asked why he hadn’t offered this great solution before, the intern replied, “Nobody ever asked my opinion. So I didn’t give any.”
This is the sad reality in far too many businesses and organizations. Simple ideas often come from most unassuming quarters. In one of my posts on the blog, I had mentioned that our businesses are torn between the play of ‘designations’ and ‘functions’. True management machinery should ensure that a genuine “Open Door Policy” combined with a genuine “Open Mind Policy” is desired for great things to happen in our workplace.
By the way it works effectively in our families as well…
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Tags: appointment, brain storm, brand positioning strategy, colleagues, front row, great expectations, honda, indirect channels, kinetic honda, leadership positions, mcann, north east india, open door policy, participant, sarcasm, scooter sales, spite, sprint, turning over a new leaf, wisdom
