In her latest column for the Inc. Leadership Forum, BL Companies CEO Carolyn Stanworth writes about the role of trust at employee-owned companies. When you’re asking everyone to step up to leadership, trust is essential. Transparent communication is the key and it must be clear and genuine that everyone is in it together. One of the earliest changes Carolyn made after becoming CEO was no more closed doors at the office. It was both literal and symbolic, a way to demonstrate that “my door is always open.” Here is an excerpt:
Communication and trust were also what helped the firm get through the pandemic. We started the weekly CEO all-hands calls every Friday at noon. At many companies, scheduling an all-hands call can feel ominous, like bad news is coming or a crisis is underway. We wanted to normalize it.
We meet every Friday so I can thank people for their hard work that week, update everyone simultaneously about what’s happening on the business or financial side, share news about someone at the firm getting married or having a baby, and then tell them to enjoy their weekend.
Employee owners also have a window in the Friday call to share new wins. This is an opportunity to acknowledge all the people who chipped in on a successful project, but it also informs and motivates the rest of the team. And we’re always happy to pass along feedback from satisfied clients. Objective outside praise goes a long way.
Read the full article here.