Ask and Listen….to Who? The Need for a Collaborative Work Environment

If you don’t build a collaborative work environment you will get left behind.

By Greg Hayne

In my role as trainer of roofing contractor service departments, I am asked by prospective clients to observe their department for half a day to see if I can help them.  Almost every time I’ve done this, something very interesting happens.

The service manager wasn’t told to expect me and/or scheduled an outside appointment and needed to leave. Since the departments are busy, I often end up sitting with the service admin who answers the phones, handles work order set up, etc.   I may sit for 30-45 minutes watching, saying very little, but eventually I’ll ask a question of some sort and a conversation starts.

After a while the admin figures out that I may know a bit about running a service department!  And then, they open up and start sharing with me what they see happening in the service department that may be, well, “sub-optimal.”  What I find is that their comments are insightful and, always dead on the mark.  Hmm.

As the morning progresses and the list of issues slowly expands, I eventually get around to asking the admin if she/he has any thoughts about how these “sub-optimal” situations should be handled.  They do. By now they have figured out that I know more than a bit about running a service department, and begin to feel comfortable with me and share their thoughts as a result.  Here is my experience with each of these conversations:

They know exactly what needs to be fixed AND they know how to fix it. (Hmm.) At that point I ask, “When you shared these ideas with your boss, what did he/she say?” They respond in one of two ways:

• “My boss never asks me for my opinion.”
• “My boss has his/her own very particular ideas about how the service department should work and really won’t listen to me.”   Hmm.

Dear Mr. Owner of Roofing Company:  You need to ask your employees how to solve the problems that exist and listen to what they say.  They are dealing with them every day.  They know what the problems (really) are and they usually also know what needs to be done to fix them.

Now, I realize asking your employees may be a bit counter-intuitive for some of you, but in today’s business climate with its ever-increasing demands, if you don’t build a collaborative work environment you will get left behind.

About  Hayne Coaching Group Hayne Coaching Group helps roofing contractors prosper by discovering and implementing smarter, better ways to work.  We provide executive coaching for key leaders in a company and organized and facilitated industry peer groups, so that companies may benefit from their group’s collective experience, buying power, accountability and so much more. For more information, visit  www.haynecoachinggroup.com