Hey everyone. Welcome back to #ThoughtFULLThursday. My name is Casey Hasten, Executive Recruiter, Director of Recruiting with VIP and all around #hiringguru. Continuing our theme on building a better team, I want to talk to you a little bit about the Safe Zone of Communication.
What is a Safe Zone of Communication? This is where we open up a safe space for our teams and our employees to come to us with their ideas, their aspirations and their concerns without fear of judgment or retaliation.
I want to share with you something that happened to one of my clients recently. They lost a long-term, very valuable employee. When they were talking to her as she was leaving, they were shocked by the reason she left. The reason she left was because she was unhappy with her growth and all this time as they would walk by her desk, she would smile and then that was it.
They thought she was happy doing what she was doing. Come to find out she wanted something more; she wanted to grow into more responsibilities. That was never communicated to the hiring managers or any of the people who had say so over her career within the company. Number one: shame on my client for not asking what she wanted and if she wanted something more in her role. But shame on the employee too for not asking for what she wanted.
What I saw happen next was pretty interesting because the company decided this was not going to happen again. Their next step was to call an all-hands on deck employee meeting where they decided they would have full transparency with the rest of the team. Everyone was in a single room at the same time. They told everyone what had happened (not disparaging against the former employee at all) and confessed, we messed up.
Hiring Managers: We did not ask so we did not know what this employee wanted. We do not want to make that mistake again. We would like to schedule time with each of you individually. During that time we want you to tell us where do you see yourself in a year. Where do you see yourself in three years? Where do you see yourself in five years? Let us help you get there. And you know what, that may not be here, but if it is not, we are still going to help you get there.
The employees walked out a little dazed because it was not something they were used to. But over the weeks, the hiring managers did meet with the individuals on the team. They even set up a suggestion box, for those who were not comfortable just yet sharing their concerns or their ideas directly.
What we witnessed over the next few weeks was that it seemed like a weight lifted off the team. People were laughing again. People were collaborating because they were not making up stories about what was going on because they were not being given information. It was amazing to see.
What I would like to ask of you today, is do you have a Safe Zone of Communication within your company? Do you have a safe space that lets these people come to you and share their ideas?
Your next great idea for your company may be sitting in that employee’s head.
This is what you are going to see happen if you constantly communicate with your employees: You will keep your great employees longer and help your good employees get better.
I hope this was helpful for you. I certainly enjoy doing these #ThoughtFULLThursdays with you. I will see you again next week.
