Eric Siu explains two questions managers should ask their team: what's the best idea to grow the business right now, and what's the stupidest thing we're doing that should stop. Listening and acting on repeated suggestions builds trust, improves retention, and motivates employees.
What's the one best idea you have to grow this business right now? And the second question will be, what is the stupidest thing that we're doing right now? So eliminate the stupidest thing. If you're seeing maybe 40 to 50% of the people that are saying, this is really stupid, we should stop doing it, then you should maybe pay attention. And if there's a really good idea and maybe multiple people are saying it, that's enough signal for you to perhaps proceed on an idea that a lot of people have. That's not saying that you're necessarily going to do everything that people say, but you are setting the expectation that you will listen as a leader. And that goes a long way. And once people start to see that a couple of the ideas ideas that they have are being implemented. That means they understand that leadership is actually listening. And what that means is they'll trust you more. And if they trust you more, that means they're going to stay longer at the company, they're going to work harder for the company as well.
