If you’ve ever worked under a totalitarian dictator of a manager, you know how oppressive this experience is for everyone involved. One of the frequent laments I hear from individuals is, “I have a lot of ideas, but no one listens.”

Manager, your job is to listen. In fact, it’s to give your team members a voice. And in return, your expectation should be for action.

The different viewpoints and perspectives of your team members are a source of strength—the raw materials of success. Unfortunately, many managers view different perspectives as lack of alignment or support. Some view voicing different perspectives as treason. Don’t be this manager.

It’s time to flip your thinking and your action on the different perspectives of your team members.

The steps and approaches below are workplace tested and proven successful. Use them in great managerial and group health.

5 Actions to Promote Strong Values and Give Your Team a Voice:

1. Start by building a strong foundation.

Invest time in thinking deeply about and defining your role and the values governing working on your team. The best outcomes for this work occur when team members have a voice in defining the role and accountabilities of the manager and in defining the values to be shared across the group.

2. Emphasize diversity and differences in your values.

Call out the requirement for individuals to share and respect differences across people and ideas. And know that the first-time you shoot down someone’s ideas, the sharing will dry up and disappear. Model the right behaviors daily.

3. Teach your team to succeed.

Left to their own, many (most) groups are capable of developing as debating societies. Debate as good, but it must lead to action. You are accountable for teaching your team how to move through the stages from issue-framing to option-development and decision-making. This is active, hands-on, full contact work. You know it’s working when your team models the behaviors without you. Until then, teach and coach.

4. Build-in a core value for post-decision support.

Once the decision is made, debate stops. The luxury of having a voice comes with the price of post-decision support. Resistance—passive or active is not acceptable.

5. Build learning and continuous improvement into the values.

From boxer Mike Tyson, “Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the face.” To reinforce this value, you must create and support the systems that promote real-time learning and rapid adaptation. Few plans in business are spot-on from the start. Go into the implementation of ideas expecting to change. Again, model the behaviors or learning withers on the vine.

The Bottom-Line for Now:

My favorite high-performance teams are comprised of individuals fiercely passionate about their ideas in pursuit of success and equally fierce about moving from debate to implementation. The manager creates the environment, defines (with involvement) the values and works tirelessly to reinforce these values daily. It’s hard work. It’s good work. It’s what your people want, and your firm needs.

Art's Signature