Tapping

You'd be wrong to assume that poking fun at their boss or enjoying a good laugh at your expense are all your staff thinks about when they're together and you're not around. Serious work-centered conversations also take place. I've overheard discussions where concerned employees offered opinions and made suggestions for improving productivity and performance. Think how helpful it would be to have access to what goes on at these "employee ears only" sessions!

Let's assume for a moment that you're a manager or aspire to be one some day. One way to prove you're not an idiot and don't intend to behave like one is to get plugged into the "conversations" that take place privately between and among your staff. After all, they only confide in each other because they don't trust how you'll react to their side of the story.

Tapping Into Secreted Conversations

The best way to tap into this lucrative flow of information is to go directly to the source -- your staff. Moving negative information up the chain of command is fraught with personal risk, which is why they keep it to themselves. You can overcome their reluctance to confide in you by providing them with an opportunity to let you know first hand what's bugging them.

Let them know they can share their concerns with you in confidence. They'll expect you to prove yourself by hearing their complaints without reacting angrily or getting back at them later. They'll also want you to advocate on their behalf to your colleagues and, if necessary, stand up for them in front of your boss.

Expect them to trust you because you are trustworthy. Hopefully, you've thought about what it means to gain their trust as well as the consequences of blowing it before you make such a commitment. For your stake and for theirs, if you don't mean it, don't do it. Only an idiot would advocate such a drastic change in the way employees share their secrets without giving it careful thought.

A period of hesitation and confusion is bound to occur as people stop relying on the grapevine and look for ways to communicate with you directly and honestly. So let your staff know that if they bear with you, you'll eventually get it right and you'll all be better off as a result.

Put on your follower hat for a moment and give some thought to what's likely to happen as your staff switches to a new form of information sharing. You'd think that during a time like this that they'd be most concerned about getting support from above. But what is not so obvious, and can sometimes be cause for concern, is how ones coworkers will react when one is less critical of their manager. Even if the boss is trustworthy, it will still be hard to get ones peer group to speak truthfully, particularly when the more influential coworkers are still hanging out in the break room passing gossip and digging up more dirt.