10/ 13/ 2005
by Tamara E. Holmes
One of the greatest sources a small business has for new ideas and initiatives comes from the creativity of its staff. But do all small-business owners make the workplace conducive to sharing ideas? A new study suggests that business owners can promote better communication among employees by paying special attention to the structure of the work group.
If your workplace is set up in a hierarchical fashion, you may be stifling communication. According to a study in the June issue of the Journal of Group Dynamics, employees at the bottom of the hierarchy are less likely to share openly during group meetings and other interactive settings. However, you can structure the workplace to enhance communication.
One of the best ways to promote communication is to avoid emphasizing multiple levels of management and long lines of command. For example, rather than insisting that employees stay within chains of command when communicating ideas, promote an open-door policy in which employees feel comfortable talking to more than one manager or a set of managers. Not only does this reinforce to employees that their opinions are valued, it makes it easier for employees to communicate any problems they may have with a particular member of the management staff.
Another way to make the workplace more communication-friendly is to create teams of employees who work on projects together. If such teams encompass employees in similar levels of management, less senior team members aren’t as likely to be intimidated by employees higher up in the ranks.
You can remove the hierarchy from the workplace by creating lateral chains of command with an emphasis on work groups rather than subordinates. In this scenario, you make employees accountable to one another. You can do this by creating groups of employees who are evaluated as a team. None of the team members would be subordinate to any of the other team members. However, since all of the team members are being evaluated on their collective work, everyone has a stake in everyone else’s performance.
Of course, it is always a good idea to encourage communication among employees, but you should spend additional time urging newer and less senior employees to offer their opinions. Employees lower down in the ranks may falsely believe that they have less to contribute than other employees, so they may be reluctant to share their ideas. By asking them specifically what they think about certain workplace issues, you’ll engage them in the conversation and let them know that their ideas count.
Some employees may find certain ideas about the workplace difficult to voice, such as criticisms about how things are run. One way to encourage employees to speak up about such topics is to offer a method of anonymous communication. Set up a communication box in which employees can leave anonymous messages for management if they choose. You can also send out surveys to employees every so often that ask for ideas and opinions on various workplace issues. By allowing employees to fill the surveys out anonymously, you may be surprised by the level of candor you receive if employees don’t believe they will be judged harshly because of their opinions.
Communication is critical to any small business. By making sure your employees are not intimidated by more senior and experienced employees, you’ll encourage the flow of ideas for years to come.
