Dear Yogesh,

There are employees at my organization who voice their opinion and openly provide feedback. I used to consider it a good thing until I found out that people get disinterested in the project whenever a change has not been made. If and when the suggestions aren’t executed, they get angry. What can I do?

Regards,

Gautam

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Dear Gautam,

When we talk about the challenges of leadership, one of the biggest and the most talked-about challenges is to create a safe space where employees can share their ideas and feedback. Many have worked in organizations where leaders talk the talk and do not even consider taking employee feedback into account. 

They encourage employees to speak up but seek only praise and approval for themselves. Therefore, I would like to congratulate you on creating an environment where employees are able to speak their hearts out. 

Great organizations allow their employees to think freely and develop employees by developing leaders. What you have here is a situation where an employee wants to be a leader. And, you have a great opportunity to develop those. It can be the case that your employees are angry not because their ideas haven’t been implemented, but because they haven’t been validated. 

So, here are a few ideas that can help develop influencers in the team and manage employee contribution.

Solicit, only if you need it!

If you don’t want your employees to give you feedback, it is best you don’t ask for it. The culture of silence is developed more by insincerely soliciting feedback than by any other thing. So, if you know what you are going to do, then do not hold the customary brainstorming session. 

It is often noted that more than being heard and seen, people want to be valued. If you ask for feedback when you know it is not required, it can leave the employee feeling unvalued. The whole point of asking for input and suggestions is to add to the pool of ideas which leads to better decisions, actions, and results.

Establish Expectations

It is important that you convey to your employees that not all the ideas can or will be implemented. Setting the right expectations can lower frustration. It is of utmost importance that you convey to your employees that even though their opinion and feedback are not implemented directly, they do inform the final decision. 

For leaders, it is important for them to tell their employees that their feedback might not directly contribute to the decision-making process, but it can ignite new ideas for a better course of action. Additionally, when employees serve as contributors, they are more likely to adopt the new solution and serve as champions to encourage others to do the same.

Communicate Constraints 

With little to no information about the working of the organization and insights into the details of a project, employees tend to give ideas as per their own understanding. It might be a brilliant idea to implement, but extremely unfeasible. Give them details about all the questions that they might have in mind. For example: 

• What resources are available? 
• Is there a budget? 
• What’s the timeframe or the level of quality required?

Share your constraints so employees can have a better understanding of what the project looks like and in what direction they have to think. At times, when suggestions are not implemented, it is because they lie outside the periphery of what can be done. 

Reveal Results

People get angry or frustrated when they realize that their ideas are not being considered let alone implemented. In order to remove this confusion, let them know where things stand. If you were not able to implement their idea, then why did that happen? 

Encouraging employees to share ideas and feedback can help your company thrive, create an open culture, and help you build leaders and influencers. It is best that you use this situation to create a better future for your organization, and not a frustrated workforce. 

Regards,

Yogesh Sood

The above is an adaptation of a blog written by Scott Robley on MARCH 2, 2022

https://cruciallearning.com/blog/working-with-employee-input/