7. Your Employees Can Solve Your Problems
The first thing companies often do when they confront a serious challenge is to hire a team of consultants. While consultants can provide valuable insight from the viewpoint of outsiders, I would suggest that the first thing companies should do is consult their own employees. Because employees know the company well, they usually can figure out how to solve the problem.
For this to work, you first need to offer “amnesty” to employees for telling the truth about what needs to be done. Promise them that they will face no negative consequences for offering their ideas. The reason they don’t come to you in the first place is that they fear they will be at the top of the list when the next downsizing occurs.
I have shared the results of my research on high performance with many audiences around the world. At an event in Japan, a young man came up to me after my presentation and told me the following story. He said that he worked for a manufacturing company that was trying to reduce cycle time. The company had engaged three strategy consulting firms to solve the problem to no avail. Management decided to hold a contest and sent out a “Request for Proposal” to the internal staff. His workgroup responded and got the assignment. The group members were afraid of offending the company’s leaders by challenging some existing practices so they asked a senior-level manager to coach them about how to best approach management. With the coach’s help, they were able to respectfully suggest ways to solve the problem. Senior management listened, and the group accomplished the goal.
While the type of coaching the group received is difficult to find, the bigger problem is that many companies don’t ever turn to their own employees when they need smart thinking.