MANAGEMENT/ LEADERSHIP SPECIAL........ No access to the top?

No access to the top?   HAVING AN OPEN-DOOR POLICY HELPS IN IMPROVING PERFORMANCE AND ENCOURAGES THE EMPLOYEES TO  WORK EFFICIENTLY AND COME UP WITH INNOVATIVE IDEAS Top management accessibility is seen as a “corporate value“, and the open door policy has become a culture in many companies that have been built by entrepreneurs or start-ups that are small to mid-sized. As the company grows in number, the physical connect with the top management goes down, however, channels of accessibility remain open. Years ago, owners of factories and industries would know their workers by the first name and the extra sensitive owners would even know about their  families. This was due to the physical nature of their jobs, with the only  communication tool being verbal. Then, with the instability in economies,  the divide between the working class and rich began to increase, making the passionate communication turn into orders and sermons. Once the economy stabilised, people who were on the top began to reconstruct companies where value of labour was understood and communication bridges were rebuilt. In yesterdays' world, with the coming of automation, the number of people  that remained physically connected started decreasing, and channels of  communication became emails and texts, but then came social media with its virtual world and its bold approach on sharing emotion statements, voicing opinions and hosting one's personal pictures. And just like that, we saw another crescendo.But this was a virtual connect and accessibility to the  top management was only a luxury in a small or mid-sized company . In large-sized companies, there are employees who had never seen their CEOs in person, leave alone having one-to-one interactions. That's the reason in largescale organisations, a large weightage is given to team building, social outings lead by team leaders individually and team outings, promoted as a part of human resources employee engagement. However, the chances of being able to reach the top boss in person, are virtually zero. There are many organisations that are taking employee management very seriously . A healthy relationship of the organisation with individual  employees is of utmost importance to inculcate a sense of belongingness. In some of the young companies and start-ups, it's a common scenario to  see the CMD or the CEO taking a round around the office floors. So, what exactly can a company achieve by making the top-level management  accessible? To begin with, accessibility of top management leads to encouragement of the workforce. When employees know that they can share their ideas with the right people without getting their message diluted, it propels them to dedicate themselves to their work, bring initiatives to the table and present  ideas which might work out to be very good ones.Therefore, top management accessibility urges employees to be at the top of their game. Second to encouraging the work force, accessibility promotes transparency . When the top management is accessible, there is less dependence on mid-level  management to bring matters to the table. It's most often that those employees  who are at the execution level get a whiff of any untoward events circumstances actions processes. There have been instances in organisations where execution level employees  have highlighted cases of negligence and fraud to the senior management. Moreover, top management accessibility also ensures that the goals objective strategy of the company is not a hushhush matter. If employees are aware of the goals of the organisation and what they are working towards, there is more enthusiasm, contribution and participation  to achieve the goal. Lesser the alienation of employees, more successful your company will be. Last, but not the least, one of the most important reasons to make your organisation more top management accessible is to make decision making a quicker process. There are organisations that have well-established policies to ensure that top management and employees are connected. Some companies hold informal meetings of employees with the chairman or CEO at intervals. Maintaining top management accessibility can be achieved by consciously maintaining an organisational structure that is devoid of too many layers.Hence, ideas, decisions, concerns and solutions float faster, eliminating lag situations. All in all, it is more about little policy  changes that you are willing to make to make your employees feel closer to the top level management. The writer is president, (corporate affairs, HR, brand & marketing), Oxigen Services India Private Limited Meher Sarid

TAS 2DEC15