If your company has an Open Door Policy, think carefully about what that means for you. At first glance, an Open Door Policy sounds great—it can create an open, less hierarchal work environment. However, in reality, an Open Door Policy can easily lead to disfunction and put both employees and leadership in compromised situations.

For the person in leadership, it can be difficult to respond to what employees bring you through this open door. Often, employees make use of the Open Door Policy when they have a grievance about middle management. In theory, that’s fine. However, it leaves the person in leadership likely meeting that employee for the first time, and without context about that person, the situation or the team dynamics. As a leader one is left with little to say until further investigation has been conducted. If an issue seems small enough, a leader may simply redirect the employee to her direct supervisor. While this appears to be a move towards reinstating the chain of command—and don’t get me wrong, it is—it’s also a move towards preserving those very important relationships between employees and their direct supervisors. 

An Open Door Policy assumes that when an employee has a problem with a manager, it should be resolved by going over the manager, without the manager. If we take a step back to think through what that actually means, we realize that real solutions cannot possibly happen without the manager present, to problem solve, to give, to listen, and to be open to making change. So, while an Open Door Policy sounds welcoming, even empowering,  it lends itself towards ineffective problem solving by excluding a key member of the problem. 

But what if both employees and leaders used the Open Door Policy differently? What I’m proposing is that employees rely on the Open Door Policy as a way to introduce themselves to leadership, before there’s a problem. This is an opportunity to make one’s name known to the folks at the top, without having a complaint or a problem associated with it. What better way to start a relationship than without needing something from the other person? If you start your relationship with someone in charge by bringing a complaint, you’re already asking them to do something for you. However, if you start your relationship without an ask—with just a, “Hello, I’m Jane and I’m thrilled to be working here under your leadership,” think about how that person will remember you. Jane the friendly new employee, not Jane the one with the problem.* 

My suggestion above stands for leadership, too. It’s in your best interest to know who is walking in your door with a complaint. If you have some context about who they are, what they do, how they’ve been performing, and who their manager is, you’ll be less stuck as far as next steps. Still, you’ll likely end up redirecting the employee to her direct supervisor, in order to preserve that relationship, but you may also be able to problem solve directly with the employee as a method of conflict prevention. 

*I’m not minimizing employees’ problems or blaming them for the existence of the problems with their managers. An employee’s problem may very well need executive attention. However, the way one goes about fostering relationships with the executive team will impact one’s ability to be heard, trusted, and ultimately, get what one needs.

What do you think about Open Door Policies? Share with us in the comments below.