Democratic Leadership
Workplace governance is constantly changing and adapting, and one of the aspects of running a company that is transforming is decision-making. Most organizations that Pesce & Associates works with now incorporate a business model based on democratic leadership, which encourages employees to participate in making organizational decisions.
Employees are knowledgeable about many day-to-day aspects of the organization that may be unfamiliar for the management team. Employee input can be used to make necessary adjustments to meet the needs of clients as well as staff.
Three ways to involve employees in decision-making
- Surveys
Conducting regular employee surveys – paper-based or electronic – allows employees to share their opinions and ideas in an easy and anonymous way. Leadership can then analyze the feedback and determine which information could help in making decisions to improve organizational performance and employee satisfaction. When the opinions and ideas generated are complex, the employees can be asked to provide more details about their feedback, such as through follow-up surveys or focus groups to drill down on specific issues.
Survey results can be collated and presented back to employees along with a plan for incorporating the feedback. Conducting follow-up surveys with employees will also help determine whether the decisions and changes made based on their input have been successful.
- Teamwork
When faced with significant organizational decisions, a company can create work or project teams – made up of employees – to tackle specific issues and generate solutions. It’s important that the team members are encouraged to interact freely and share ideas openly. Each team could have a focus, such as marketing or client satisfaction. The team then exchanges their ideas and shares them with their team leader or the leadership team to be incorporated into the business process. It’s always important to follow-up with the employees and teams about how their ideas have been incorporated into decisions.
- Suggestion Boxes
Suggestion boxes encourage employees – especially the ones that are shy about giving their opinions – to share their ideas for the organization. While not all the ideas shared will be viable, some of the opinions may be useful to the company. Going a step further, employees can be asked to vote on the ideas provided in the suggestion box to ensure that every person’s voice has been heard before a final decision is made. The organization could also form a committee to be responsible for consolidating the opinions collected through the suggestion box and forwarding the viable ones on to leadership. Many Intranet solutions have ways to incorporate virtual suggestion boxes if your organization does not have a spot for a physical one.
Whichever way your organization decides to collect employee input to incorporate into decision-making, you must be open and transparent about the method being used, ensure equal access for all employees, and follow-up with employees to demonstrate how their input was incorporated successfully.
The more ideas you are incorporate the more valued your employees will feel, which will lead to better employee engagement and satisfaction overall and ultimately benefit all aspects of your organization.
