Within the formal channels that organizations institute for their bottom-up communication, the suggestion box is presented as one of the most frequently used alternatives.
In addition to enabling an information channel from base personnel to the hierarchical line that allows a path to continuous improvement, this tool enables a space for participation that allows motivating personnel and developing a sense of belonging.
Despite their obvious benefits, suggestion boxes in organizations often present difficulties in their implementation, obstructions in communication processes and thus limit their benefits.
The most common difficulties that suggestion boxes usually present can be summarized in the following points:
- The implementation of the suggestion box starts from the conceptualization of communication as a product and not as a process. The suggestion box is established without giving continuity to the responses of the employees, generating demotivation in future suggestions. Employees suspect the destination and use of their suggestions by putting their job sources at risk. Low self-esteem of the workers that does not allow them to recognize that a causal finding or opinion on a process may be important to the organization. No strategies are implemented for the implementation of the suggestion box. Lack of information from employees to prepare suggestions. Management fear of releasing opinion. Lack of encouragement. on the part of the hierarchy to the suggestions of the employees.Very slow analysis systems for suggestions or lack of continuity.
Like any internal communication channel established in an organization, the suggestion box requires a design process, appropriation, monitoring and evaluation by the area in charge:
DESIGN: all organizations are different and therefore, all suggestion boxes too. Organizations must design their suggestion channels in a particular way, coordinating this tool to the organizational culture and people's needs. The design of the suggestion box must contemplate: the objective to be achieved, the format to be used, the physical spaces where it will be located, the way in which we will process the responses. This stage should also contemplate an instance of information to users about the how, who, when, where and for what of the new channel.
APPROPRIATION: One of the most frequent traps that organizations tend to fall into is that the suggestion box soon after its implementation tends to become a nice decorative object without capitalizing on use by staff. Like any communication channel that is instituted, the design of the suggestion box must contemplate an appropriation strategy that allows people to see the importance of use and appropriate it as their own channel.
The appropriation strategy usually requires a lot of creativity, natural events of the organization that awaken the need for communication, playful instances, incognito campaigns and involvement of horizontal communication are usually used.
FOLLOW UP: We must not forget that the suggestion box is a communication channel, therefore it has a sender and a receiver that change their roles alternately. The answers that we give and that we do not give to the suggestions of the employees are going to be marking the performance of the channel. The response to the suggestions must be immediate, indicating the necessary information about its application or not, and appreciating the interest in the improvement. Employee comments should not be encapsulated in the HR area, as is often the case, but should involve and commit direct managers.
Each organization must find a method to streamline listening to responses and turn them into action.
Despite their obvious benefits, suggestion boxes in organizations often present difficulties in their implementation, obstructions in communication processes and thus limit their benefits.
EVALUATION: The evaluation of the evolution of the channel provides us with quantitative and qualitative information about what we receive, who intervenes, what is said, how it is said, why it is said and what is the history of the responses.
It is important to remember that the suggestion box is a communication channel, but it is not itself communication.
Communication in organizations is a complex, DYNAMIC PROCESS in which PEOPLE intervene in multiple situations.
Its process nature speaks to us of the need for joint construction. Its dynamic nature tells us about the impossibility of a channel always remaining the same, unpolluted by changes. The intervention of people tells us about the degree of complexity, about a network of relationships that give meaning to all internal communication channels.
When a channel is obstructed or hinders its use, we must think beyond the technical characteristics of the channel to think about these three elements: process, dynamism and people.
The suggestion box can speak a lot about the company, it is important that organizations can evaluate on a path to improvement, how is the process of upward communication with staff through the suggestion box and how our organization speaks and listens through of the.
