Organizations succeed or fail largely by how successfully they keep information flowing. If the flow stalls, runs dry, or only flows one way, the organization, its operations, and its bottom line suffer.
Closing the gap between top-level executives and lower-level team members offers numerous lucrative benefits and sets the stage for productive on-site, hybrid and remote team connection & engagement.
Let’s look at how companies benefit from bridging the gap between management and employees and dive into 10 actionable ways to accomplish this goal.
Why Should Organizations Try to Bridge the Management/Employee Gap?
A seamless flow of information inside an organization increases efficiency and productivity. In this scenario, everyone understands their role and how it plays into the big picture. They also feel valued and like they’re positively contributing to the company. Leadership also gains insight into what is working well and what is falling short at the granular level. A narrow, or non-existent, management/employee gap increases employee engagement, company efficiency, and leadership’s ability to set and achieve goals.
10 Ways to Bridge the Gap Between Management and Employees
Here are 10 tips for building a bridge between management and employees. These will help you almost immediately increase your organizational communication and effectiveness.
1. Encourage Open Dialogue
The closed-door policy won’t cut it in the new workplace climate. Employees who feel isolated will seek a warmer welcome at another company if you aren’t careful.
Create and share an open-door policy for employees, team leaders, and managers. Everyone should feel like their voice matters, and they don’t need to follow an antiquated chain of command, even if they’re in an entry-level role.
2. Provide Helpful Communication Tools
Companies should give employees the tools they need to communicate up and down, and back-and-forth. Communication tools are especially vital in hybrid and remote employee scenarios. Video chats, applications with asynchronous communication, visually pleasing boards and graphs, and storage for the “single source of trust” pieces of information are required to keep everyone on the same page.
3. Foster “Beyond Workplace” Relationships
The idea of keeping your personal life out of the workplace went the way of the typewriter. Managers and employees should share pieces of themselves beyond the office. Understanding each other’s backgrounds, families, why they work, and what motivates them builds a relationship on similarities instead of differences.
Leave time for some team-building activities and personal conversations in every meeting or strategy session.
4. Bestow Recognition
Get rid of the “us vs. them” mentality that many companies possess with recognition and kind words. Set up ample opportunities to share good things, compliment co-workers, and give shout-outs about special efforts. An appreciative, gracious attitude builds a “one-for-all” environment where everyone thrives.
5. Schedule 1-on-1 Meetings
Team members shouldn’t have to fight for time to be heard. Regular 1-on-1 meetings allow employees to continue a consistent conversation with their manager. These conversations build rapport, keep the employee on track, and help both parties understand the motivations and goals of the other.
6. Share the Company Vision as a Cohesive Goal
How many employees read the company goal in an email without having any input into it? Could that motivate them to strive for it? No, it probably doesn’t.
The company vision and goals should permeate the entire company, not roll from the top down. Involving everyone to some extent decreases the distance between management and staff. Meetings, performance feedback, conversations, and brainstorming should include everyone in the company. Yes, leadership will be tasked with hammering out the final goals and framing the company vision. However, these pieces of information shouldn’t be a surprise to any of the company’s employees.
7. Set Clear Expectations…and Revisit Them Often
Nothing throws employees off or makes them more frustrated than having an unclear, vague, ever-changing, or incomplete objective. From the job description through every performance review and meeting, management should clearly outline and verbalize their expectations.
Clearly stating expectations doesn’t mean they can never diverge or change altogether. Through two-way communication, managers and employees can work out, edit, add to, or change short and long-term expectations out together for the benefit of the company.
8. Promote Leadership Thinking
Giving team members responsibility and accountability assists in narrowing the gap between management and employees. Allowing them the freedom to make independent decisions that drive their goals helps them connect and stay engaged with their roles. It also keeps them from feeling smothered and micromanaged.
Instead of assigning tasks and to-dos, assign strategies and outcomes. This approach ensures everyone, not just management, has a stake in the company’s success.
9. Facilitate a Rich Company Culture
Strive to make your company’s culture a living thing in your organization. The way teams accomplish goals, solve problems, think of new ideas, and the overall mission they’re reaching for is one of the biggest ways to bridge the manager/team member divide. An inclusive, diverse culture where everyone has a place is crucial to avoiding yawning pits of differences.
10. Cultivate and Maintain Trust
This may be last on the list, but is probably the foundation of every other point and an absolute necessity. Trust.
Trust is a two-way street. Believing what a person says, whether it’s giving the promised raise or handling a challenging project, is essential in forging an authentic, strong relationship. The manager must be confident the employee will give their best at their jobs, and the employee must believe the manager will have their back and be in their corner. Without trust, there may not be any respect or understanding. And that only widens the gap.
Build trust in the workplace with openness and authenticity. Never promise what you can’t deliver to an employee, and shoot straight, even if it’s negative. Fiercely guard built-up trust, because it’s easy to break if.
Enhancing relationships between managers and employees should be an ongoing priority for all companies. Helping information flow honestly and freely up and down the chain empowers everyone to do their jobs well and keep the company mission at the top of their minds. Bridging the gap leads to stronger trust, engagement, and loyalty that keeps morale high and turnover low.
