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Keep the Staff Informed About Requirements and Decisions

An intriguing book I read during my graduate studies was required for a sociology class I took as an elective. It was The Territorial Imperative by Robert Ardrey. It taught me a lot about the animal origins of property and their relationships to humans and nations. The pack mentality and the alpha syndrome are not unlike organizational life for the leaders and the led, I learned.

Controlling territory and sharing the resources in it are often a function of who’s in charge. I’ve been in organizations that have been very protective of such things as who knows what and when and determines how it’s conveyed. It doesn’t always happen, but such organizations can be dysfunctional. Being protective of information can be petty; it can also be harmful. To whom? To the boss and to the people up and down the food chain.

Keeping people informed is important for any size and type of organization. If it isn’t a secret or if it’s not compartmentalized information, it should be transmitted as far, as wide, and as swiftly as possible. As our sixteenth president, Abraham Lincoln, once said, “Let the people know the facts and the country will be safe.”

It can be done verbally, electronically, or in memo form—in any way that not only keeps people informed but lets them feel a part of what’s going on.

People at all levels have this transmission capability, be it a COO, a senior vice president, a chief of staff, a special assistant, or a secretary. Information is golden, and the wealth needs to be shared.

In 1997 I was fortunate enough to become the chief of staff of America’s Promise—The Alliance for Youth. Its purpose was clear: to put valuable resources into the lives of at-risk youth. However, as a start-up, it had no blueprint or model to serve as a guide. I got to make it up as I went along. As someone who would have to help run it, I wanted an organizational structure that made sense. I divided staff responsibilities into teams or divisions, as they were called, as the first order of business. Then came the hiring of qualified employees, providing them direction, and overseeing their activities.

As chairman of the organization, Colin Powell set the standard and expectations. A president was hired, and together that person and I issued assignments on a regular basis.

I’m not a big fan of meetings, so I didn’t often call the staff together to issue edicts. Instead, I chose a technique that has been called management by walking around. Each day I would wander out onto the floor of the office space we occupied to ask questions of various staff members and ensure that they had the benefit of the chairman’s and president’s thinking. At the same time, I would solicit thoughts from as many of the 60 members of the staff as I came in contact with.

Open lines of communication allowed them to ask me questions and at the same time gave me the opportunity to keep them informed. It seemed to work. I encouraged interactive dialogue between team members so that everyone knew what everyone else on the team was doing. There is nothing worse than being caught by surprise. It not only short-circuits the decision-making process, it obstructs the management process.

The worst thing that can happen in this regard is that an employee picks up the morning newspaper and reads about someone or something that happened at the office that he or she hadn’t previously known about. The reaction can range from hurt to outrage, from feeling left out to feeling unimportant.

This can be particularly harmful if a crisis has erupted and you learn about it from the news. Every organization has multiple stakeholders, and the most important of them all are the employees. There is nothing worse than being the last to know and the first to go. Not being told about it but being responsible to do something about it is simply unacceptable.

Those in the chain of command who know what’s going on regarding requirements and decisions need to share it as far and as wide among the staff as possible. Yes, it’s about territory, but it’s also about building a winning team. If that territory is to be protected, it needs an all-hands defense.

Having trust and confidence in your staff members and keeping them informed is an important thing. Ignore it at your peril.