Over the years when we’ve handled workplace communications issues, we have done research. Sometimes it’s been qualitative. Think employee focus groups. Other times it’s been quantitative. Think employee surveys.
When we do employee research, the purpose for each project may change but one thing almost never does. There is usually a credibility and trust gap between hourly or line employees and their immediate supervisors or front-line managers.
The workplace could be a manufacturing plant or it could be an office. Regardless, when front-line managers speak to their people, they are all too often not believed or trusted.
Why?
While every workplace has its own communications issues and characteristics, generally speaking, front-line managers can get caught in the middle. They don’t have the power or authority to make policy decisions, but still they are charged with enforcing them. This means they can’t make spot changes based on the direct feedback they may get from subordinates.
This can be frustrating for line employees.
Further compounding the issue is how front-line managers are assigned and judged. Many front-line managers are promoted from within. This means some may still feel and act like line employees, neglecting their management responsibilities. While others may allow a taste of power to change the way they interact with their subordinates. This can lead to or exacerbate an “us” versus “them” mentality within the workforce.
Whether they are really effective as front-line managers or not, most know that some of their managers don’t want problems bubbling up in the organization. So, the course of action for many front-line managers is to keep things quiet.
Front-line managers tend to have a choice. They can manage so as not to get on the wrong side of their superiors, or they can manage to make themselves look good to their bosses. Either way, this often means that grievances, complaints or even suggestions and good ideas can come to a halt when originating at the very front lines of the organization.
Usually, once we detect a pattern like this, we set about creating an internal communications program that helps to bridge the divide between senior management and the entire organization. One important thing is to do is find ways to bolster the credibility of those front-line managers. After all, they are the voice and face of the company to your line employees.
Some ways to do this are:
- Empower front-line managers to make more policy decisions within their work groups.
- Encourage and incentivize them to share complaints, suggestions and ideas that they receive from their people upward in the organization, and recognize those contributions.
- Respect the valuable role front-line managers play as both managers of their people and as advocates for their people.
In the end, you will be helping to forge a stronger bond between front-line managers and the people they manage.