Said Out Loud ·
Your door is open. Nobody walks through it.
What people usually say instead: “My door is always open.”
The short answer
An open door policy means anyone can bring a question, idea or problem to a manager without booking time or going through a chain. It only works when people feel safe using it. We think managers who want to hear about problems early go and ask for them, instead of waiting for people to walk in.
Drafted with AI for Coach42 · coach review pending · 3 min read
The scene
Your door is open. It's Wednesday, 2.15pm, and you can see the whole floor from your desk. Tom has known for nine days that the launch date won't hold. He walks past your door twice on the way to the kitchen and doesn't stop.
How does an open door policy work?
On paper, simply: anyone can come to you, any time, about anything. No meeting request, no going through their manager. You keep the door open and wait.
That last bit is the problem. The policy puts all the risk on the person walking in. They have to leave their desk, interrupt you, and say the bad thing first, in your room, where you're the boss.
An open door asks them to take the risk. Walking over to them takes it yourself.
Why don't people walk through it?
Because they've done the sums. What happens if they bring you bad news? Maybe nothing. Maybe a long sigh, a "why am I only hearing this now?", and a fix you take over yourself. They only need to see that once to stop.
There's a smaller reason too. Your door is open, but you're on a call, or typing fast, or wearing headphones. Walking in feels like adding to your day. People are kind like that. They'll protect your time and leave you in the dark.
Tom isn't hiding the launch date to hurt you. He's waiting for a good moment, and a good moment never looks like your door.
Our post on why employees don't speak up to senior leaders covers how this grows as you move up.
What should you do instead?
Go to them. Walk the floor, or open the chat, and ask a question that makes bad news easy to say: "What's the thing on this project you're least sure about?" Ask it the same way every week, so it stops being a big moment.
Pick their space, not yours. A chat message, their desk, the walk to a meeting. Bad news is easier to say sideways, while you're both looking at something else, than across your desk with the door shut behind them. Ask small questions first. "What's slower than it should be?" gets a better answer than "Any problems?", because, we'd bet, nobody wants to be the one who says yes to that.
Then watch how you take the answer. Thank the first person who brings you a problem, out loud, even if the problem is annoying. Don't grab it and fix it. Ask what they need. That's what the next person is watching for.
What does silence from the team tell you?
It tells you to ask better questions, not that things are fine. In our experience, a month with no bad news on a real project is rare. If nothing reaches you, it's stuck somewhere on the way. Go and look for it, one person at a time.
How to find out what your team really thinks of you has a few questions to start with. The Feedback Appetite self-test looks at how you tend to react when the news is bad, which is what your team is really deciding about every time they walk past your door.
The picture
The cost
Nine days of Tom knowing and you not knowing, and a launch date you'll now move in front of the client instead of in private.
Try on Monday
Before Wednesday, go to two people's desks or chats and ask, 'What's one thing that's going worse than I think?' Write down what they say, and thank them.
The mirror
The mirror
Answer it for an ordinary week. Your answer stays in this browser.
- Take Feedback Appetite: how well you ask for and take feedback.
- More for Stepping up
- The 42 Test, for the full picture of how you lead
Questions people ask
- Is an open door policy a bad idea?
- No. It's a fine promise. It just can't be the whole plan, because it waits for people to come to you. Pair it with asking, often, in their space.
- What if people bring me every small thing?
- That's a good problem to have for a while. Help them sort what needs you from what doesn't, and thank them while you do it.
- How long before people start coming to me?
- It varies. Trust builds slowly and breaks fast. Expect weeks of asking before someone brings you the thing they're worried about.
Signed
Drafted with AI for Coach42 · coach review pending.
Scenes are composites; names are made up.
Sources
No figures in this column: everything here is opinion or a made-up scene.