How to Obtain Input from Employees

Input from employees is critical. It will help quell rumors, provide high-quality ideas, and improve morale. Employees want their input to be heard and considered, not discounted. But input must be handled carefully. It can raise false expectations of changes that will not occur, and it can create cynicism. How many times have you heard, “They ask for our opinion but never take it”? Managers must set expectations around involvement that are realistic. For example, if employees are in a group meeting to brainstorm cost-saving measures, the manager might say, “We are soliciting your input today. We will consider every idea that is raised. However, management alone will make decisions. It will take us about 3 weeks to arrive at a decision. Once we have done so, we will let everyone know.”

Input can be derived from a number of in-person sources, including one-on-one meetings, focus group sessions that concentrate on one or two topics, and departmental staff meetings. There are other more formal ways of soliciting input like ongoing suggestion programs. Whatever way is developed, it will help keep communications flowing and focus everyone’s attention on resolving a business crisis.

Companies should have ways to gather input easily and sometimes anonymously. Suggestion boxes in a hallway or by a water cooler or coffee station make giving feedback easy. Have slips of paper and pens. Or have employees e-mail their suggestions and reward ideas with the equivalent of “frequent-suggestion” points that they can cash in.

By making such events and needs easy, employees and managers are more likely to participate and keep talking to one another more often. Good communication has a domino effect: It adds to more frequent communication.