The answers are in the room.
– Susan Scott
Last week, I was in Chicago at the Human Capital Institute’s Learning and Leadership Development Conference. A resounding theme from Fortune 500 leaders was the need to engage on a deep level with employees, to include them, when solving the most important issues for the business. They encouraged companies to invite others outside of the usual suspects. There were many examples of how ‘best’ practices ended up not being what worked for their companies, and what really worked was listening to their people.
This mentality of engaging with others to solve problems applies on an organizational level along with the individual. So I ask you: What do you currently have on your plate that would benefit from other perspectives?
From where I sit, the marketing team at Fierce is innovating on some processes we use with our Salesforce system. It is absolutely necessary for the marketing team to get together with the sales team and talk about the problems we want to solve. To be more inclusive, we are creating think tank meetings, and we will be using our team model. In this model, we take the time to truly discuss and understand the diverse perspectives before jumping to the decision. I am excited to see the solutions that come to the table.
This week’s tip is to solve a problem by including others. Ask people for their perspectives on an issue and really get curious. Stop being the expert in the room, and rather, facilitate a conversation.
Besides different people being invited to the conversation, do you have any tips for being more inclusive?
Tags: #Disengagement, #Exclusion, #Inaction
