How to catalyze front-line engagement

Admitting one's limits actually helps build engagement.

A perspective on front-line engagement from Japan | Opensource.com

Armed with what they've learned at these parties, these inexperienced (but smart) managers begin finding ways they can be helpful. Rather than just announce a plan to make changes, they spend time trying to understand what their employees needto have changed.

On some delicate subjects, I have been more successful holding peer-to-peer, open discussions after those parties. … With that environment and small group size, those discussions have been very successful for me, and I think that environment is the best venue for creative open discussions throughout Japan.

Finding a balance

Whether you're putting together peers at a formal business meeting, at an official boss's welcome party, or in a bar, I can't stress enough the importance of balancing the four criteria Whitehurst explains in The Open Organization:

1. Encouraging members to speak freely and honestly
2. Encouraging members be courageous enough to be different
3. Selecting members committed to achievement
4. Selecting members with the willingness to be accountable for whatever is decided.

This is how to catalyze front-line engagement—by staying involved in decision-making, not by skirting it.