The sound of employee ideas

Tim Mantyla, who contributes to TECHWR-L, a blog for technical communicators and hosts the new Communication-Creativity-Innovation blog, recently shared a thoughtful comment under an old post on this blog. It's such a good comment that it stands on its own, so I'm sharing it with FYA readers. Call it our first guest post. Thanks Tim!

I really enjoyed [the] post, [More proof that employee communications matter] and the one referring to Barry Nelson's "Who Speaks for Employees..." on the trend toward a corporate, sometimes antihuman orientation of business.

What's clearly needed (though not so clearly to many corporate execs, apparently) is the sense of community in a business: The feeling that "we're all in this together--what can we give to each other? How can we support each other as just folks, and get business done?"

People are social for a reason: it's part of how we survived without claws, fangs and fur, along with our bigger brains. When businesses realize they have much more to gain by treating employees like valued family members and friends--while still expecting and supporting valuable skills, creativity and other contributions--then they'll get much more loyal workers.

Too often managers seem to believe that strict, bottom-line business needs of a business must overwhelm the human needs of the people who compose the organization. That's when people leave in droves.

How can we serve both needs? How can business thrive while providing an atmosphere like that of an extended family and friends at work? How the organization provide needed prestige to employees, to show everyone the truly value the workers? And how can they get the most out of an employee?

I find that one thing I need most is to be recognized for contributions that I can make to improve my job or some other area of the company, but are not requested, seen or valued by the employer. It's frustrating. And it results in a net loss for the employer and me.

Sometimes just a listening ear, an open door with a never-ending invitation to talk, can make a difference in engagement. It does for me.

My advice to company execs and managers: Ask more questions, and be open to honest answers. Ask your workers about how they would improve things for the company, and ask what would make things better for them personally. Then work to deliver it.

Don't forget to deliver the employees' messages to upper management. Smart management will listen and thank their workers for the ideas, and keep asking for more.

By the way, isn't this kind of thing, called "kaizen" or improvement, in Japan, part of what keeps Toyota and Honda at the top of the auto world in quality?  

Thanks again, Tim. Wise words worth sharing.