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Access Up the Chain

Hierarchy is an anachronistic concept for many Millennials. Having grown up one click away from seemingly all the information in the world, the ability to mobilize a dispersed group with social media, and the ability to democratize media with their own channels and information curation, Millennials see the work world as a much flatter place than Baby Boomers or Gen Xers did when they were in their twenties and thirties.

“Millennials don’t see structure at all. When they do, they see structure as a ceiling not a floor—they see structure that gets in the way of their hopes and dreams,” says Chris, fifty-four.

When asked to rank how important access to senior management is in the job, nine out of ten of the hundred-plus twenty-two- to thirty-four-year-olds I talked with or surveyed placed regular access to leadership at the top of the list. Ted, a senior leader in a large multinational software company, laughs, “Access to people above me? Oh yeah! My guys go around me and talk to anyone they want to all the time. But they take it to an extreme. They just go and do it without any preparation or thought process.”

On the one hand, explains Ted, “It’s good that they feel the freedom to talk with anyone in the organization. On the other hand, they don’t understand that they could have such a better reaction if they were sponsored or helped.”

Marty, CEO of a midsized company in Seattle, says, “Sometimes I feel ambushed. I want to have an open-door policy and be supportive of everyone, but there’s no way I can answer their questions about their prospects or opportunities well all the time. I wish they’d tee up their conversation with their managers so I could be helpful and constructive instead of just shooting in the dark.”

Ted adds, “I get a lot of ‘What the hell was that?’ from the people above me, and have to do a lot of interpretation of what my bosses meant when they are approached by the people below me. I really need to hit them over the head with a two by four sometimes so they don’t hear encouragement as a promise of advancement.”

Of course, there are lots of benefits of providing access. First, it helps senior leaders keep a pulse on what is going on with the front line of the company—how the work flow is changing with junior employees’ input and what is on their minds. Second, when done authentically, it helps break down barriers between people at different levels and ease communication channels, to help keep everyone pointed in the right direction.

I subscribe to Daniel Goleman’s notion that “the fundamental task of leaders is to prime good feeling in those they lead.”¹ Providing direct access from employees to people in leadership positions is the first order of business in achieving this. At the same time, it’s not very constructive or efficient for leadership at any level in the organization to spend all of their time giving audiences to everyone around them. And nothing undermines other leaders and managers in the organization more than not reinforcing some sort of structure and reporting authority.

Each organization—in fact, each leader—needs to find a balance with regard to access in their culture. What will it look like? What is the standard? What is special? What is the goal of access?

I can answer that last question for you. The goal of providing access is to reinforce the culture of the organization, to provide a forum to hear ideas from those people closest to the work, and to provide informal mentorship to younger, less experienced colleagues.

Even though my small, thirty-five-person organization has an open floor plan and I sit in the crowd, I do not hear or notice everything. I think some of my team must wonder why things are news to me when I’m first looped in on a topic. When you get to a size when you can’t see everyone, that complicates things further. If you add in multiple offices in different time zones, you exponentialize the potential for miscommunication.

Over the last twenty years, I’ve worked with more than a hundred C-level leadership executives and teams in companies of different sizes and cultures, and it’s easy to see the difference between those that feel empowered by the free flow of ideas and constructive feedback among different levels in the organization, and those that do not.

Energy is the key differentiator. The energy in the room, the energy of the people, the energy of a project that moves forward easily even if it’s hard, because the people are well connected to the mission and vision and leaders of the organization. And access to leadership—perceived, even if not acted upon—plays a large role, particularly with Millennials, who see it as an essential part of a satisfying job.

Access Requires Feedback

However, access without a closed feedback loop is worse than useless, it’s demotivating and destructive. “He has an open-door policy, but everyone knows it’s a black hole where good ideas go to die,” says Michael, thirty-three, of how his CEO puts—or fails to put—the access idea into practice. Not that you have to solve everyone’s problems or give immediate answers or implement every idea. The unwritten contract of productive access is to provide a way to gather and then address the information you receive. It would be better to refuse access to people if you don’t plan to loop back with a “thank you,” answers, next steps, or a rationale for why someone’s ideas aren’t going to be implemented.

Unless it’s an urgent personnel, customer service, or legal issue, do not promise immediate consideration. One senior leader I talked with gathers all of the non-urgent feedback over the course of a month, presents it to his direct reports, and then, with them, gives feedback with the broader team in a meeting held at the end of the month. This way, he bubbles up themes and shows how some things resolved on their own, others evolved into ideas that were implemented, and still others require more thought or time.

If you’re in the leadership seat, make sure you give closure or next steps to the different topics that arise during these access times, and be sure to loop in other people in the reporting chain. (If you’re the person who has availed herself of senior leadership’s time, make sure you say thank you and follow up with any action items discussed.)

Access That Works

An open-door policy alone won’t help you achieve your goals or provide constructive access to Millennials and other workers who want your time. So how can you build a culture of constructive access? Find several avenues to sharing information and getting input. Provide ways to give advice and guidance on urgent and not-so-urgent matters that support your direct reports. Share your vision widely.

Practically speaking, what does this look like? Some of it depends on the size of the organization. Effective leadership needs to happen everywhere in the organization, through and with different people. Effective leadership is not silent and it is not infrequent.

Consider a different matrix of ways to be a present and accessible leader who keeps people informed, provides access, and walks that line between overly processed and agile and empowered.

All-Hands Meetings

Monthly all-hands meetings at which senior leaders provide updates on the business, have some fun, and shine a light on progress keep people in touch with management, their personalities, and their vision.

One client held a monthly all-hands at HQ the first Friday of every month to review progress, highlight successes, address issues and answer any question from the floor—and there were some doozy questions over the years. His willingness to answer every question in public was highly prized by the staff of more than 350 people at headquarters. He ended each meeting with a reminder of the vision—why everyone was there and a charge or goal for the coming month. Everyone knew where he stood and what mattered most.

Weekly E-mails

If you don’t see your whole team weekly, consider adding a Friday afternoon check-in to update your team on the previous week or two—what’s moved forward, any staff news, and wins or initiatives underway. If you’re part of a management team, consider sharing this duty among yourselves.

Dr. Jeff Boehm, executive director of the Marine Mammal Center, a leading care and research facility for marine mammals and ocean health in Sausalito, California, sends a weekly e-mail on Fridays to the center’s more than 1,500 employees, volunteers, board members, and key partners. He updates everyone on what has happened that week—rescues, how many animals the hospital is caring for, trends in the patients and implications, milestones met, etc. He keeps his wide-ranging (the center covers six hundred miles of California coastline) army of volunteers and staff abreast of events and feeling connected. Each week, he gets a handful of responses, and everyone knows that they can respond to him and that he will return their e-mails as soon as he is able.

Open-Door Policy

My assistant’s number-one charge is to get anyone in my organization who wants my time onto my calendar as fast as possible, and move other people around if he needs to, to make my employee meetings happen; next on the priority list are my clients who want my time; and then come the people connected to the organizations of which I am a member of the board. Then everyone else. Employees first. (Actually, his number-one charge is to make sure my family gets what they need from me during the day, but that’s a small group and they don’t call often—employees are a close second.)

Group Lunches

Consider taking small groups of people (five to seven) from throughout the organization to lunch—or at least sitting with them over pizza in the office—once a month. Get to know those people’s interests. Probe them on satisfaction. Ask direct questions such as, “Is there anything you think we could be doing better?” “Is there something we’re doing well we should do more of?” “Is there something you’d like to see me do differently?”

Staff Education and Training

Share your knowledge, your expertise, and your special sauce with your team through training sessions on those topics that support the culture (how to give feedback), your company’s mission, and/or skills (presentation, writing, and so on). Make a video of the session and create a learning channel on your company intranet so you can share your own special sauce with new people. Have everyone participate over time to broaden the library and share different expertise for the benefit of all.

Closed Social Circles

Create a closed Facebook group or Google Circle, or use another closed social platform such as Jive or Yammer. Post regularly:

• Questions; moderate the resulting dialogue
• Updates
• Pictures from your day

Anniversary Lunch

If you’re the CEO of one of the 5.8 million² companies in the United States with fewer than fifty people, consider taking each team member to an informal lunch on her work anniversary. Make sure everyone understands this is not a performance review, but rather a personal thank you from the boss. Ask open-ended questions about the person’s job, her feelings about the company, whether she has any ideas about how the company could improve, or what good things the company should do more of, in her opinion. Make sure you keep track of ideas and sentiments that come up during lunch. Look for trends that need to be addressed widely and ideas that will improve performance, the fun quotient, and collaboration.

If you manage teams larger than thirty, consider sharing the anniversary lunch with other senior leaders in the group.

Walk ’n’ Talk

Author and business advisor Nilofer Merchant captured an important concept in 2013, when she presented at TED on walking meetings. “Sitting is the smoking of our generation,” says Nilofer. I was so inspired by Nilofer’s talk that we started encouraging “Walk ’n’ Talk” meetings last year. Even one thirty-minute Walk ’n’ Talk per week can yield more than seventy-five extra miles walked in a year, and who wouldn’t benefit from that?! Put one or two thirty-minute Walk ’n’ Talks on your calendar every week and let anyone in the company schedule them with you. By walking side by side instead of sitting across from each other at a desk or table, you’ve removed the temptation to watch your phone and, for some people, taken away the stress of having to look the boss in the eye while sharing their thoughts.

Surprise and Delight

“Surprise and delight” campaigns are all the rage with consumer products companies, but the place to put at least some of your surprise and delight energies is with your employees. Every once in a while, surprise and delight your team. And take a little time to be with them during the delight part.

• Do a Slurpee run in the afternoon.
• Bring in breakfast for the whole team.
• Make ice cream cookie sandwiches and pass them out.
• Find a toy or game you particularly like, and buy one for each of your teammates; I personally love the Magic 8 Ball and the “Yes” and “No” buttons that yell out different ways to affirm or deny.
• Schedule a meeting and take them bowling instead.
• Occasionally, take teammates out for drinks.

In the end, people want your time and your ideas, and it’s up to you to make it productive for the organization, the person sitting in front of you, and yourself. The more you can provide multiple avenues for constructive access, the more your young teammates will be engaged with your company and the more you will be able keep your finger on the pulse of the organization. Giving effective access is admirable and desired work with a positive payoff.

Management Dos and Don’ts

• Do find ways to be accessible for people of all ages and responsibility levels on your team.
• Do share what you know with people coming up through the organization. Give the gift of your knowledge to others who could benefit from it.
• Do leverage any time you spend in training or presenting by taking video and putting it up for future use.
• Don’t give all of your time away. Carve some time every week or month to be available to the staff and let people see you then unless an urgent issue demands your attention earlier.
• Do consider adding Walk ’n’ Talks to your schedule every week.

Millennial Dos and Don’ts

• Don’t assume going over your boss’s head will be welcomed.
• Do engage your manager in what you want to get out of meeting with his boss. Ask him to help you get the most out of this time.
• Do be prepared, if you ask for time, to present your ideas clearly and concisely and provide backup.
• Don’t be upset if the person you want to see can’t see you right away. People are busy for a reason, and that reason most likely has nothing to do with you.