Sometimes the door is open. Sometimes the door has to be closed.
You want to be available to help your staff. You want them to know they can always bring their concerns to you. But, sometimes that “open door” that you promised has to be closed.
Can you close the door at times and still keep your “open door” promise? You can if you and your staff are clear on what “open door” means and why the door is sometimes closed.
What do you mean by an open door?
Managers often keep their office door physically open to encourage people to come inside. They want members of their staff to see the open door as welcoming — as a kind of standing invitation.
But, managers and their staffs should have some reasonable understanding about what an “open door” means.
An open door could mean:
- “Knock on the door before you come in.”
- “Peek inside the office to see what I’m doing before you knock.”
- “Come in after you catch my attention and I give the nod.”
- “Come in even if I am busy. I don’t mind being interrupted.”
- “Come in after 9. And don’t forget to knock.”
Knocking is a must for some managers. They need an audible sign that their solitude is being disturbed. Others expect people to look in through the door first. If they are busy, or deep in concentration, or on the phone, they want people to wait outside the door.
This describes the atmosphere around Martha Foley’s office in upstate New York. She’s the news director at North Country Public Radio.Her reporters usually peek inside her office, knock, and come in after they get Foley’s attention.
Then there are managers, like Steve Proctor, who encourage their colleagues to come right in, even if they’re busy. Proctor is deputy editor of the Baltimore Sun. He says he doesn’t mind being interrupted to answer people’s questions.
“I think the importance of being accessible to everyone who works with you far outweighs the inconvenience,” Proctor says.
Sure, managers want to be accessible. That’s the reason for having an open door. The challenge is to be accessible and still have the option of private time. Having both means being clear with staff about what a closed door means.
What does it mean when your door is closed?
It could mean:
- “I’m having a conversation about a personal matter.”
- “I’m with another colleague who needs the privacy.”
- “I’m on deadline for a project for the boss.”
- “I need a few minutes alone.”
Some managers, like Proctor, insist upon closing the door to discuss personal matters with an individual staff member. During those times, he says, he resists being interrupted by the knock of another staff member.
Barbara Johnson, News Director at WNBC-TV in New York, agrees with the idea of closing the door for personal conversations. And, she lets the staff person decide when to close the door.
“I never want to assume the gravity of what is on their mind,” she says.
Still other managers close the door for their own needs.Sometimes, the discussion with a staff member is about a personnel issue, such as salary or a promotion or a reprimand.And sometimes, the manager simply needs private time to return a telephone call, meet a deadline or escape the noise of the newsroom to concentrate on something.
The closed door could also mean, “Knock, but don’t come inside until you are asked.” Silence then could mean, “Please come back later.”
How do you say, “Not now?”
Because there are good reasons for closing the office door, managers need a way to say, “No, you can’t come in now.”
I’ve known managers who have created a series of door signs to let people know not to knock. Sometimes the signs say, “Please come back later” or “Working on deadline.”
Other managers simply tell people that a closed door means don’t knock. Later, they find the people who need to see them and schedule an appointment. This last approach has worked for Proctor.
“I rarely ask a person not to interrupt me,” he says. “But if I must, I try to set a time to pick up the conversation.”
Picking up the conversation is key. It tells the staff member and everybody else that the closed door doesn’t cut off communication. At most, it only delays communication.
