Listening Tips for Bosses

When employees talk, smart bosses listen.

• Listen to an employee’s ideas. Here’s an example. After many nights of testing, an employee in a ceramics plant learned how to lower the incidence of cracked glazes in fired dishes. When she told her supervisor of the novel idea, he pooh-poohed it. He didn’t think an employee could know more about firing plates and bowls than the engineer who designed the process!

• Even if the idea wasn’t feasible, a good supervisor would listen and discuss it and explain why. More importantly, the supervisor would express an eagerness to listen to other ideas for improvement.
• Listen when you tell employees of a new process. Don’t just tell employees that in the future trucks will be off-loaded at the side ramp, not the back ramp. Listen for their reaction. If they resist, is it simply because they don’t like change? Or are their concerns valid? Have they a better way to facilitate the movement of freight through your warehouse?
• Listen when a top notch worker grows sullen. Take the worker aside. Ask about the change in attitude.

• Listen to complaints about co-workers. Give the employee plenty of time to air complaints about a co-worker. If the employee can solve the problem, encourage him or her to speak to the co-worker. And follow up. The next day, ask the employee how the discussion went. Then listen. Intervene only when the employee has done all he or she can do to remedy the problem but it still persists.

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