Tell me lies, tell me sweet little lies. – Fleetwood Mac

I guess this quote reveals that I am really old – who the f… is Fleetwood Mac? 🤨 But I want to use this line in a different context.

If you are in a management position, do not expect to hear the truth! People will be reluctant to give critical feedback and voice there honest opinion, if it is opposing or against the flow.

I have been leading organizations with several hundred people. I asked my team the simple question: „If something we do is seen as terribly wrong, do you expect the worker from the line to walk into our offices and tell us?“ The clear answer to that was „No.“

But what can you do about it? There is many options:

💡 The probe in the ground! – My assistant was a production worker herself in the past and held very good relations to the people. She was my „probe in the ground“. She never revealed her sources, but I encouraged her to tell me where things went wrong, so that I could react.

💡 Gemba! – This Japanese word means „the real place“ and is used in the lean world for being right at the place where the work is done. I have done „Gemba walks“ together with my works council – and while I saw challenges I did not see before, they learned that the mood in „the real place“ was not at all that bad.

💡 Do it yourself! – As the general manager of a production company, I blocked one afternoon and evening each month to work a late shift in one of the teams. Honestly, I was not of much help most of the times, but I earned the respect and the trust of people and I would get a much more realistic picture of how things run.

💡 Create room for feedback! – Meet people from all levels of the organizations without their bosses. I organized lunches with the employees. It was not only interesting, it was also fun. Furthermore, we turned the formal employee gathering from a boring slideshow into an interactive meeting with a fun quiz and open question rounds.

Ultimately, we should create a culture of openness and trust where people speak up. But this takes a lot of effort and time.

Give me your honest feedback!