The worst lesson I learnt in leadership was the Open Door Policy.
This policy needs to be nuked. Here is why you should nuke it, too.
We have been told for eternity we will go to leadership heaven by keeping our doors always open.
Always keep your door open - Unseen Angels, Unknown Gurus and Anonymous Experts
But does Open Door Policy work?
The day I was handed the title “Project Leader”, my first leadership role some 22-odd years ago, Andy, my boss, told me, “Keep Your Doors Always Open”.
Andy’s doors were always open. He was charismatic. His office was always full of folks, as if he was a super-specialist doctor solving people’s ailments.
And his patients - People with all sorts of problems, some big, some little, and some nasty. But his doors were always open.
Andy was our manager, and his sole job was to manage problems. The other leaders under him managed the project.
Andy was a staunch supporter of the Open Door Policy, but there was one problem: he didn’t seem to do anything.
As a new leader, I tried the same, Andy being my role model.
I felt like Godfather. Powerful. But deep inside me, I was having mental anguish of not focussing on doing productive work. My vision was getting blurrier and blurrier with the passing of time.
Open Door Policy was killing me like slow poison, drip by drip. I looked at my fellow tech leads and found that they were suffering the same frustration.
Everybody just wore a powerful, fierce-looking-sounding mask like “Darth Vader” did, but deep inside, they were feeling rotten.
When the Great Recession of the 2000s hit, Andy was the first one to get fired.
After all this helping, how can the company fire him?
The Boundaries Approach to Leadership
Years went by, and at my coaching school, I discovered the wonderful world of “Boundaries”. A Boundaries approach to leadership is quite the opposite of the “Open Door Policy”.
With Boundaries, You become assertive by saying “No.”
Everyone has boundaries. Have you ever heard the word “Personal Space”?
Yes, these are boundaries. Also, the phrase “Don’t cross that line?”
It was the most common sensical theory hidden from us in plain sight.
Yes, we all have boundaries; we are just unaware of them.
Say I offer you a job with two late night shifts (9pm -4am) each week. Would you take it?
Notice the feelings that arose from this very question.
There is a pretty good chance the answer would be no.
Say, I said that you only worked just three days, and you got compensated for the whole week. The answer this time might be different.
Finding boundaries is the first step in the self-awareness of a leader.
This also helps a leader find his limits on what is acceptable and what is not.
Here is how to find your boundary
Lets get back to the scenario . If I call you at 6pm for work related matter would it be ok?
If the answer is yes, then it is not a boundary. What do you think about 11pm?
If the answer is no, then its a boundary. Keep digging.
My Call To Action
1. Take one aspect of your life where you need to improve.
2. Think hard, take a note book. At what points would you tend to bend.
3. At what point would you break? This is your boundary.
Go on, apply this boundaries approach to any aspect of your life.
You will be pleasantly surprised when you define the abstract into something concrete.
Close your doors; open them occasionally before drawing your boundary.
Agree, Disagree? Do let me know your thoughts.
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