Listen to your employees’ ideas.

Ask, “What one thing would you change about our company or department?” The answers to this question reveal a great deal about your people. Do they have ideas for improving customer service or improving productivity? Are they committed to the success of the company?

A person’s strengths aren’t always on display. Sometimes they require precise triggering to turn them on. Squeeze the right trigger, and a person will push himself harder and persevere in the face of resistance. Squeeze the wrong one, and the person may well shut down. This can be tricky because triggers come in myriad and mysterious forms. One employee’s trigger might be tied to the time of day (he is a night owl, and his strengths only kick in after 3 pm). Another employee’s trigger might be tied to time with you, the boss (even though he’s worked with you for more than five years, he still needs you to check in with him every day, or he feels he’s being ignored). Another worker’s trigger might be just the opposite—independence (she’s only worked for you for six months, but if you check in with her even once a week, she feels micromanaged).

The most powerful trigger by far is recognition, not money. If you’re not convinced of this, start ignoring one of your highly paid stars, and watch what happens. Most managers are aware that employees respond well to recognition. Great managers refine and extend this insight. They realize that each employee plays to a slightly different audience. To excel as a manager, you must be able to match the employee to the audience he values most. One employee’s audience might be his peers; the best way to praise him would be to stand him up in front of his coworkers and publicly celebrate his achievement. Another’s favorite audience might be you; the most powerful recognition would be a one-on-one conversation where you tell him quietly but vividly why he is such a valuable member of the team. Still another employee might define himself by his expertise; his most prized form of recognition would be some type of professional or technical award. Yet another might value feedback only from customers, in which case a picture of the employee with her best customer or a letter to her from the customer would be the best form of recognition.

When you listen to your employees’ ideas, they work harder. I don’t know why this is. I just know it is.

“You’ve got to listen to your employees’ ideas,” Bill Campbell, the coach of Silicon Valley luminaries including Steve Jobs, said. “You’ve got to let them be creative. You’ve got to give them an idea that they can own, and they’ll work harder than you can imagine.”

I was trying to figure out why some companies were able to innovate faster than others. I was also trying to figure out why some companies had cultures that were more open to change, more receptive to new ideas and new ways of doing things. It turned out that companies with the fastest-moving, most creative cultures were often the ones that had cultivated the most open, participatory management styles. And in just about every case, the open, participatory management styles were created by a leader who listened to his employees’ ideas.

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  Photo by Tirachard Kumtanom.