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How to empower your employees
By Matt McClellan
Smart Business Atlanta | April 2009
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Ken Holsclaw, founder and president, Phase 3 Media LLC
Before Ken Holsclaw founded Phase 3 Media LLC, he was continually astounded by the lack of authority given to employees.
“When I would need to get a decision on something, I would go to my boss, who would go to their boss, who would go to their VP,” he says. “It takes a week and a half, and by the time I get an answer, the client is already gone. It just infuriated me.”
Holsclaw swore that if he ever had his own business, he’d give his employees freedom to make their own decisions, and he has done exactly that as president of Phase 3, a 50-employee printing company with more than $6 million in revenue.
Smart Business spoke with Holsclaw about how to empower your employees without disrupting the levels of management.
Q. How do you get input from employees?
Every year in December, we have a formal employee feedback form that we give out to all employees. In a confidential nature, they put down everything that they like and don’t like about company. Management reads over that, and we act on it. That’s the way we try to make things better.
We also have a suggestion box where employees can confidentially put suggestions to be discussed in company meetings. We try to take action on the different suggestions that are brought up.
Other than that, it is constantly talking to everyone and making it clear to everyone that it’s OK when you’ve got something on your mind to come talk about it. I’ve made it very clear with the management team — ‘Guys, you want to encourage your team members to communicate back with you. If they have an idea, share it. If they have a problem, share it.’
Now, it has to be done in a professional and correct way. If a team member has a problem with something, they need to pull you aside in a one-on-one setting.
Q. How do you encourage communication while avoiding chain-of-command problems?
As long as it’s done in a professional, respectful manner, I absolutely constantly am talking about and encouraging employees to speak up. When they’ve got an issue on their mind, let’s get it out in the open and discuss it.
If the president or the CEO is going around talking to the front-line troops and asking them questions, asking them, ‘Do you have open communication with your manager?’ if the answer is yes, great. If the answer is no, you have to sit down with the manager. There needs to be a lot of follow-up.
