Listen to your employees: they are your power

Recently I attended a seminar by one of a very (ex) senior global executive of Johnson and Johnson. He was talking about his experiences when he was working in the head office of the company. He told that JnJ has to written strategy plan rather it has its credo that drives the employees to the right things in the interest of the customers, employees, environment and society. Employees will not be fired for taking wrong decisions but they will surely be fired if they breach the credo of the company. One of the important parts of the credo is

“We are responsible to our employees,the men and women who work with us throughout the world.Everyone must be considered as an individual.We must respect their dignity and recognize their merit.They must have a sense of security in their jobs.Compensation must be fair and adequate,and working conditions clean, orderly and safe.We must be mindful of ways to help our employees fulfilltheir family responsibilities.Employees must feel free to make suggestions and complaints.There must be equal opportunity for employment, developmentand advancement for those qualified.We must provide competent management,and their actions must be just and ethical. ” - source

He explained this in detailed and the key point was that managers should give respect to the employees and listen to them because they want to be listened. (You can also visit how and when managers should speak out). This becomes even more important in the knowledge industry (like pharma) where any idea can do wonder for the society and the company. If employees don’t feel respected and turned down for their every ideas even before listen to them properly they will get discouraged. Many a time employees knows better about the problems in the operations of the company and they might be able to propose a pragmatic solution from their experience.
This is very important because as we become higher in rank we start speaking a lot and don’t let other people speak out their mind. This might be hurting the ‘idea lab’ of the organization. Let the ideas come out freedom, make a forum for everyone to share their ideas.