Closed Door Policy
As I walked to my car one afternoon after work, another manager at the hospital appeared beside me, interrupting my thoughts.
"Do you ever close your office door?" he asked.
"What, after I leave for the day?"
"No," he said seriously. "While you're working."
Distractions are a given--confusing, exciting or frustrating. This is certainly true in the laboratory, where an interruption can easily derail the day and turn whatever you're working on into chaos. Just closing the door sounds good. Really good, some days.
Arguably, a manager's job is to minimize staff distractions. This seems like a difficult thing to do with the door closed. Many organizations adopt an open door policy that says "my door is always open" to ensure that all management--CEO on down--is accessible to employees. Employees are encouraged to "come on in" anytime to discuss any issue.
I wonder how often employees take advantage of such a policy and what they get in return.
The problem with an "open door" is there is still a door. The only thing different is management receptivity and not behavior. The onus of change is on the employee. A manager needs to respond to employees and customers, eliminating the door altogether. Many distractions warrant an immediate response: physician complaints, irate patients, instrument failure, transfusion emergency.
So, what's the answer? It depends on trust. If management shows respect by responding to concerns in a timely manner, it earns the right to "close the door" once in a while. And sometimes, that can be a good thing all around.