This is why the employee voice is so important to hear
Businesses today recognize that to remain competitive, innovation is a top priority. This puts increased pressure on organizations and its leaders to generate as many ideas as possible. For Gerry Gaetz, CEO of Payments Canada, employees play an invaluable role in this. At the same time, he recognizes that this can be easier said than done.
To promote an environment in which people feel comfortable speaking up, Gaetz regularly hosts town-hall sessions, where he opens the floor to questions from all employees. He (and occasionally other members of the senior executive team) respond to questions about any rumours floating around “so we can address them head on,” as well as any other issues people wish to speak about.
But for Gaetz, having voices heard is not about whistleblowing. “While that’s important, I also mean it in a creative, opportunistic sense. You want people to feel they can give you their best ideas because we’re growing as an organization, and to do this, we need to move fast.”
The leadership team initiated the town halls when the organization was going through a major restructuring and they wanted to give people an opportunity to voice their feedback and concerns. Although it started out with everyone being pretty silent, telling a few jokes and emphasizing the purpose of the forum prompted employees to step in. While the initial questions were decidedly safer, people started testing the waters and eventually they were discussing some very complicated and sensitive topics, including why they let someone go.
“That is very unusual because every HR department will tell you that you can’t talk about that. However, the reason we did this was because people were bothered that their colleagues were no longer with us and they wanted to know why. In my opinion, if you can talk about those types of things openly, you can talk about anything.”
What about when the discussion crossed the line? “We were open with people and sometimes we had to explain we were stepping into a sensitive area, but this is what we can say about it. People understood that reality and appreciated we did the best we could. I feel it’s important to respond to those questions because if we’re trying to build something together, people need to feel that they can ask anything.”
Giving and receiving feedback well is a cornerstone of creating this type of exchange and culture, he says. “It has to be in your DNA. Feedback needs to be cherished because if there are pieces of feedback that you don’t give somebody earlier in their career, it will most likely come back to haunt them. It’s our duty to let people know what can be compromising their success, because they likely can’t see it.”
Gaetz has a strong perspective on the reluctance of some management to receive feedback. “I would say if you’re uncomfortable being open as a leader, then you’ve got some work to do, to understand why. I think the issue is maybe if you’re not good at accepting it, you have a hard time giving it. I think it’s also good practice. It’s a bit like exercising. Once you do it more, it gets easier.”
Although Gaetz recognizes the benefit of training for everyone in the organization, he feels that more personalized and intensive coaching and development on two-way feedback offers the greatest benefit. Bringing in an experienced coach is like using training wheels when first learning to ride a bike: it reduces bumps and bruises and aids in the speed of uptake.
“It’s helpful if you have a third party in the moment who can provide live coaching. Their experience and expertise allows them to facilitate a more constructive exchange.” This type of support is especially valuable in the early stages of someone’s journey, as they get used to flexing their feedback muscles. An expert facilitator and coach can reframe certain “clumsy observations,” making them more palatable to the receiver and avoid or minimize any possibly inflammatory language.
The key to building these critical skills, and to exhibiting strong leadership more broadly, Gaetz believes, is to continually practice: “If you approach leadership from the perspective that you must never stop learning, you realize that every day provides you with a big lab, which provides you with an opportunity to test yourself. If you take even just a few minutes out of every day to be intentional about your leadership, amazing things happen.”
Craig Dowden (PhD) is president of Craig Dowden & Associates, a firm focused on supporting clients in achieving leadership and organizational excellence by leveraging the science of peak performance. Dowden delivers evidence-based executive coaching and leadership development training to his clients. You can connect with him by email or LinkedIn, or follow him on Twitter @craigdowden.