This is a return guest post by the one and only Gil Cohen, Founder of Employee Experience Design, a firm dedicated to helping organizations evolve their people practices to improve both human and organizational outcomes. When it comes to organizational culture and employee experience, Gil is best-in-class. If these topics are up your alley, I highly recommend you follow his daily posts on LinkedIn.
Enjoy!
At important meetings, Amazon includes an empty chair to ensure that the customer has a seat at the table.
I love the idea and, when executed well, it can save you from straying from what the customer wants and needs.
However, I would take this practice one step further and include a seat for the employees.
Leaders need to understand that there is a difference between what you want to accomplish and how people achieve it.
The plan for "how people achieve it" shouldn't just be a change management plan.
By including the employee perspective in decision making, you are able to create the conditions where they are in alignment with the change.
When do you decide the outcome with no consideration for the employee perspective, change management becomes the plan.
What you accomplish will be determined by how it is accomplished.