Overcoming the Recession 'Doom Loop'
Among the first casualties of an economic downturn are great ideas. That is, employees who in better times willingly speak up with change proposals or offer contrasting opinions instead hold their tongue.
With unemployment reaching 10 percent, who wants to risk it? Better to fly under the radar.
Harvard Business School professor Amy Edmondson, a world authority on organizational communication, calls it the "doom loop."
As she explains to Mike Hendricks of the Kansas City Star:
"Fear of rocking the boat inhibits them from voicing concerns about workplace problems and, alarmingly, even from making performance-improving suggestions," Edmondson tells the newspaper.
Just when you need the wisdom of your workers most, the quiet is deafening.
How can you change this picture?
I have three ideas:
- Top Down. Climate change in the office has to flow from the top. The CEO needs to encourage workers, with passion, to speak up. Employees need to believe the words they are hearing. This goes way beyond putting up more suggestion boxes.
- Feel Safe. Managers need to reinforce these messages to direct reports. Consider holding regular "what would you do?" sessions, getting everyone involved in the conversations. Managers are also key in identifying to the powers that be the employees speaking up with great ideas.
- Public Rewards. Those who offer constructive suggestions should be rewarded in a manner for all the company to see. The reward is almost inconsequential -- time off, an iTunes gift card or a cash bonus all make the point equally well.
A while back, Edmondson discussed with HBS Working Knowledge the importance of "speaking up" at work and how employers might go about encouraging their people to do so. Read the interview, Do I Dare Say Something?
How open to new ideas is your workplace these days? Are good ideas flowing uphill? How is this encouraged?