Everyone has a Voice
I am sure you have heard the following phrase (or at least something like it) "everyone has a voice", yet all so often people's thoughts and ideas are not considered.
It may be due to time constraints, ideas being too different, someone being a little stuck in their ways, or perhaps staying silent due to concern that they may be ridiculed. Consequently valuable input may go unheard.
However, organisations like Toyota prove that every idea counts and they actively encourage feedback from all levels.
On one occassion I was very busy helping my mother-in-law move home, from a large house with over 30 years of ‘stuff’ in it!
Some of the items were small and easy to shift, but some (like sofas) were not so easy.
Challenges included the obvious:
navigating tight gaps and awkward corners
safely securing large fragile items on a trailer; after all when putting fragile furniture on a trailer, how do we do it so it gets to the destination in one piece?
I am sure you won’t have trouble thinking of situations where people didn’t want to make suggestions - whether in work or family situations.
The wonderful thing here was that everyone did have a voice; from the back seat drivers watching and guiding the lifting and twisting of a sofa through a tight gap, to those of us carrying out the physical moves.
For example, when moving a large sofa through a small doorway, one of the observers was able to see an opportunity, and shared "try picking up that end and turning it that way". It was a fantastic idea and it worked.
Everyone felt they contributed, and the overall move went pretty smoothly - and we all felt satisfied at the end.
All ideas were considered worthwhile. Some worked as suggested, some needed modification and some were ruled out... but listening to them all enabled us to shift everything with no breakages!
How can you enable people to truly share their ideas, thoughts - and potential blockers?
Doing so might sometimes feel like a headache, a waste of time, but I am sure you can think of situations where you have heard things like:
“Why didn’t they tell us about xxx”
“I thought it was OK and no one told me otherwise”
or perhaps
“Yeh, I thought about that, but didn’t think anyone would care!”
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