Nokia’s intranet soapbox, known as Blog-Hub, is open to employee bloggers around the world. There, employees have griped about their employer, but rather than shutting it down, Nokia managers want them to “fire away.” They feel that Nokia’s growth and success can be attributed to a “history of encouraging employees to say whatever’s on their minds, with faith that smarter ideas will result.”53

In today’s challenging environment, companies need to get input from their employees. Have you ever worked somewhere that had an employee suggestion box? When an employee had an idea about a new way of doing something—such as reducing costs, improving delivery time, and so forth—it went into the suggestion box, where it usually sat until someone decided to empty the box. Businesspeople frequently joked about the suggestion box and cartoonists lambasted the futility of putting ideas in the employee suggestion box. Unfortunately, this attitude about suggestion boxes still persists in many organizations, but it shouldn’t. Managers do business in a world today where you can’t afford to ignore such potentially valuable information. Companies need candor, even when the truth isn’t easy to hear.54 Managers need to be open to bad news and contrary opinions. Exhibit 14–4 lists some suggestions for letting employees know that their opinions matter.

Exhibit 14–4

How to Let Employees Know Their Input Matters