An open door, as the phrase suggests, is all about open doors among different rooms so that nobody needs permission from someone else to enter into a room. Open door policy, which is now being practiced in most organizations, began between 1899-1900 and was initiated by the United States to give equal privileges to countries trading with China.
Since then Open door policy is a vital gesture that is being practiced in organizations. Basically, an open-door policy gives opportunities to all the members of a company to have a conversation or communicate with any senior leader to share their problems or requirements as per their needs.
Professional diploma in train the trainer courses emphasize open door policy to a great extent. The reason behind normalizing this policy is to ensure crystal clear communication among employees where hierarchy is not the boundary. It is more like a feedback system that is transparent and thus a sense of bonding and trust gets developed.
What is the purpose of the Open door policy?
One of the greatest traits of an open-door policy is that it ensures talent retention. When employees understand that they can execute their rights to reach out to their senior management, they feel valued. Clear communication between employees and their leaders will make sure that there is a lack of employee dissatisfaction.
Needless to say, communication is the key to success in every aspect of life and hence, when employees get access to communicate with their seniors, they feel privileged. Also, it is important for the management to know what is bothering employees and chances must be given to them to share their grievances.
Any problem when left unaddressed, the probability of the problem becoming more complex increases. Open door policy is a perfect strategy to eradicate any misunderstanding or confusion that occurs when a problem is not being handled at the time actively. Hence, this policy acts as the best tool when it comes to proactive problem-solving techniques.
It is always not possible for the senior authorities to enter each and every employee. They also remain preoccupied with work and hence might not be able to listen to employees with utmost concentration. Thus, a particular time period must be fixed for each day so that employees can sort their queries or confusion and meet the leaders. This will help both of them to evaluate the intensity of the problem and a needed solution can be met.
Being a good listener can make you win battles. Thus, if you listen to your employees minutely within the prescribed time, it will be easier for you to suggest the perfect solutions. Sometimes, problems might be extremely trivial. In that case, a leader should always encourage employees to try to solve problems by themselves before reaching out. This is a time-saving method.
Try to respond quickly to issues that require immediate solutions. If your employees start feeling that their problems are not being paid much attention to, they will lose the motivation to work. Thus, the overall productivity of the organization will decline which is definitely not wanted.
What are the effects of an open-door policy?
There are multiple effects of an open-door policy. Had there not been the existence of an open-door policy, managers would have isolated themselves and it is indeed a red flag! If there is no communication between leaders and employees, the whole structure of the organization will fall apart.
If employees do not get chances to address their problems to management, their confusion will eat them up inch by inch and their zeal to work efficiently will drop down to zero. Therefore, unless both levels are aware of what is going on actually, there will be no growth which will adversely affect the growth of the company.
An open-door policy will always make a workplace feel like home. This is important because it is directly proportional to the job satisfaction level of employees. Besides, communication will get improved to the next level. There will be a strong bond of trust and no transparency will enhance the productivity of the organization as a whole.
The open-door policy has always been a significant module of the Professional train the trainer program because this module has shown extraordinary results whenever being practiced in any organization. Employees learn that their views and perspectives are being valued and leaders get to learn about any loopholes or issues that might backfire the success track of the company.
Written By : Samantha Kanth