Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SUNDAY, August 27, 1995                   TAG: 9508250036
SECTION: BUSINESS                    PAGE: F4   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: CAMILLE WRIGHT MILLER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

AN OPEN-DOOR POLICY ISN'T AS CLEAR AS IT'S INTENDED TO COMMUNICATE

A: Individuals need cues to know what behavior is appropriate in a given situation. The message you're sending is interpreted by staff members as "always receptive." No behavior cues have been given to your employees to suggest other behavior is desirable.

Beyond your frustration with unwanted interruptions, your open-door policy isn't conducive to good communication. Effective listening requires absence of disruptions. Normal traffic flow outside your office, coupled with people popping into your office, results in poor communication.

To improve communication and reduce your annoyance level, practice a new form of courtesy with office guests. If the conversation is to be more than a brief exchange, welcome your visitor and close your door as the individual is taking a seat. At the end of your conversation, leave the door open and allow your open policy to resume.

When we find ourselves upset by the behavior of others, it's useful to look at our own patterns to see if we are contributing to the problem. It's easy to alter our own behavior first and see if that brings desired results.

Q: Our company, a consulting organization, requires that we decline employment offers from clients since, as consultants, we're hired with non-compete agreements. I was called on the carpet last week because I told a prospective client I wouldn't consider an offer of a full-time job - because of the non-compete clause. My boss said I should have told the client what he wanted to hear - that my honesty lost the client. I don't know whether to talk with my boss about this or not.

A: Identify your options. You can continue working as you are now, work to change the situation, or seek employment elsewhere.

If you continue without addressing the problem, you'll continue worrying about job security, ethical dilemmas, and work relationships lacking trust. Can you handle that continued stress? Living with fear, stress, and anger takes an enormous toll on physical and emotional health and on the quality of our work.

Working to change the situation involves some risk. Once your supervisor has calmed down, meet with him. Explain, in nonthreatening and nonaccusatory language, that you value honesty and are incapable of lying to a client or employer. Ask that you not be placed in any situation where lying will be required.

If you believe the ethical environment in the organization is not recoverable, look for employment elsewhere. Personal integrity is valued by most employers; you'll be rewarded elsewhere for those values.

Q: When hired, I was told that I would receive ongoing training to stay current in a rapidly changing field. Of the fifteen requests I've made for course funding, all have been met with "We don't have the money right now." I've paid for the courses, but I resent that the company benefits from my time and checkbook.

A: Continuous training ensures greater employment opportunities at every stage of one's career. Every employee should have a "training budget," whether personally or corporately funded.

Identify your training goals for the next twelve months. Estimate costs for each component.

Meet with your supervisor, identify the reasons for your on-going training, and highlight the immediate and tangible benefits your organization receives from your training.

Remind your supervisor that the organization advocates training but makes little money available for that purpose. Restate your understanding that, at the time you were hired, you were told that training would be provided.

Share your training calendar and budget and ask for a commitment to full funding.

If the request is denied, negotiate. Can you get a commitment to partial funding each month? A salary increase to offset training costs and reward your education efforts? Reimbursement for courses that allow you to bill at higher rates to clients? Request an open discussion of the possibilities.

In your discussion, find out who's in charge of the training budget. Make a request, through your supervisor, to increase the training allowance in future budgets.

Consider putting yourself on the job market. An organization which fails to honor small commitments will likely fail to honor larger ones.