Steve Lowisz describes a bank manager named Rob whose open-door policy backfired: employees became dependent on him for every decision, and he used it as an excuse to avoid proactive engagement. Open-door policies can feed a leader's ego while crippling team autonomy. Better to set boundaries and reach out to staff yourself.
So I recently put up a LinkedIn post that got some interaction. And if you're a leader, this might hit home. And the post that I put up was that open door policy that we're all taught to use could be a liability. Now let me explain what I mean if you're a leader. Not too long ago, I received a call from somebody I went to high school with that is now running a bank somewhere on the West Coast. And after not hearing from him for 20 years, he calls and says, Steve, I need some help. I've got a wonderful team, but they can't make a decision. Can you come out and help us? So I ended up flying out, spent the day with them. And this guy, his name is Rob, had the open door policy of all open door policies, probably the same as many of you who are watching this. But here was the problem with his open door policy, is people would file in all day long. And he would have a conversation with them because of that policy. But the problem was, after watching this for 8 hours, he was actually creating a team that had dependence on him. And sometimes as leaders, we hide behind that open door policy, and it's really more about feeding our own ego and creating and solving for all their problems, but creating dependence. So that's one of the contexts of why our open door policies are actually a liability because we don't put boundaries around them. So that's one side of the coin. But there's another challenge in why that open door policy could be a liability. And if we use it only to expect people to come into our offices and we're too lazy to get out of our chair and go to our people by hiding behind, well, I have an open door policy. That policy becomes a liability. Yes, those are two extreme contexts, but unfortunately, in my experience, both myself and in watching thousands of leaders across the country, unfortunately, we've taken something good and created that liability. So let's take a step back, create some boundaries, don't solve problems for our team, And instead of relying on the open door when it's appropriate, go outside of that door and interact with your people. And that liability now becomes something that completely transforms your organization.
