Open communication and transparency are key ingredients in successful organizations. Pew Research Center found that the third most common reason for employees to quit their current job was feeling disrespected at work. While employees leave their positions for a variety of reasons, this one is tied most directly to the relationship between management and staff.

While the top two reasons – not enough pay and too few opportunities for advancement – may be difficult to improve, especially for small businesses and organizations, staff leaving because they feel disrespected in the workplace is a failure of leadership that should be taken very seriously.

Policy vs. Culture

While many employers may boast of having an open door policy, or announce that they are always open to employee input, written policy can often differ drastically from actual workplace culture.

A simple comic square by Tom Wilson, where the suggestion box feeds directly into the recycle bin, perfectly illustrates how many employees feel about providing feedback to leadership at work. Staff who feel that their voices are ignored or never taken seriously will simply stop sharing their observations and ideas.

Even worse, if management steals ideas by implementing them but not acknowledging where they came from, or retaliates against workers for pointing out errors and inefficiency, word will spread quickly and employee input will cease.

Leaders with Character

The first of the CODE principles, for developing adaptive leaders, is character. In this context, character is about earning respect through honesty and transparency. A willingness to admit mistakes and the ability to acknowledge when certain processes are no longer working are also elements of open and adaptive leadership.

Managers who are overly authoritarian or preoccupied with protecting their own position, reputation, or ego will quickly lose the trust of their employees.

This is especially true with middle management who can easily benefit from presenting ideas or taking credit for the successful work of their staff to upper management or executives as though it was their own. If this behavior is allowed to continue, a toxic work environment will form and employee satisfaction – and retention – will suffer.

Developing an Open Environment

Creating an open work environment takes time and intentional effort. While some employees may seem disinterested, most workers actually want to know how the company is doing, at least in a general sense.

Knowing that the business or organization is doing well and what is coming on the horizon, gives staff a sense of security and stability. This may also mean sharing certain metrics or periodic reports with staff and addressing certain issues with all staff instead of only with management.

Another key step in creating this more open workplace environment is to embrace failure in a positive way. Everyone makes mistakes. Treat errors as opportunities for learning and growth, instead of something that must be immediately punished. Employees who fear retribution may try to cover up mistakes or fail to report them, potentially causing greater long-term harm to the business.

Benefits of an Open Environment

Developing trustworthy leaders, being transparent with staff, and forming an environment that welcomes suggestions and feedback creates a more positive workplace experience for employees. This, in turn, increases employee job satisfaction which increases employee retention.

Frequent and honest feedback from various levels within the organization is also necessary to create an environment of continuous improvement. According to Indeed, valuing employees builds trust, increases productivity, boosts team morale, reduces turnover, and improves brand reputation.

In short, the business will only do its best when there is mutual trust between staff and management and employees do not dread coming to work.

Conclusion

If an employee has an idea that could save the company $100 per week but says nothing because they do not feel that their input is valued by leadership, that business is losing $5200 per year because they lack an environment of openness.

While those numbers may not be startling at first, they could be critical for a small shop or non-profit organization struggling to stay afloat. The stakes may be even greater with larger scale operations as the potential for excessive waste, costly errors, loss through inefficiency, and missed opportunities is also greater. Employees perform their best and stick around the longest at workplaces where they feel respected, and that respect begins with the honesty, fairness, and transparency demonstrated through leadership.