Mary Schmidt Marketing Troubleshooter

“Management by Walking Around.” “Open Door policy.” “360 Evaluation” All in and of themselves are good ideas and something like what should be practiced by anyone in a leadership/management (there is a difference between leadership and management) position – from the CEO to the graveyard shift supervisor at Burger King. Now, with email, it’s the “Open Inbox.”(WSJ Online). From the article,

“In a survey for The Wall Street Journal conducted last month by the Business Roundtable, a Washington group representing heads of big businesses, 39 out of 44 companies responding said their CEOs personally answer staffers’ emails…Advocates say such a policy is a powerful leadership tool that can nip crises in the bud, boost morale, uncover new ideas, and cut through corporate red tape. In the post-Enron era of CEO accountability, reading employee email helps the boss appear hands-on and accessible.”

Glad to hear it! But cynic that I am, I wonder how much of this is truth and how much is lip service? It does, after all, say “appear” to be hands-on and accessible. Do these folks actually take to heart what they read? And, what happens to the employees if they express an opinion that looks bad for their immediate manager?

Granted, its been a few years since I wielded a hoe on Big Company Mahogany Row, but I can’t imagine things have changed too much. In my day, it was a brave soul indeed who told the CEO what was really going on out in the field. Even when the CEO really truly wanted to know! Brings to mind one of my favorite old Dilbert cartoons. In the first panel, everyone is in a panic because the product is killing customers. By the last panel, Dilbert’s PowerPoint cell reads “Decline in Dissatisfied Customers!”

Bottom Line – Your employees always know more about the real world than you. So, if you’ve got employees, walk (and email) the talk.