Communication is key when it comes to showing your members and employees that they matter to your organization. That’s why it’s important to keep your door open.

How to maintain strong relationships with employees and members, and more, in today’s Lunchtime Links:

Be open: Different people have different needs. Listening to what staff and members have to say and treating stakeholders with fairness and consistency are just a couple of the things you can do to foster a sense of commitment across your organization. Why do employees and other stakeholders crave so much personal attention? Like it or not, says Meghan M. Biro, contributing writer for Forbes: “We live in the age of the individual (some might say narcissist), and old-style, top-down, command-and-control leadership just doesn’t work. It makes employees feel devalued and wary. Just the opposite of what success demands: active, fulfilled employees who are bringing their full talents to work every day.”  How do you lead?

Be caring: Business writer and Inc. columnist Jeff Haden started a recent presentation by asking a group of CEOs and executives a simple question: “In one sentence, what is the key to leading people?” One audience member gave an impressive answer. “Our employees don’t really care about what we want them to do until they know how much we care about them,” he said. “When an employee knows—truly knows—that you care about them, then they care about you. And when they know you care, they will listen to you…and they will do anything for you.”

Be accessible: In the age of social media, accessibility is essential to member satisfaction. Bryan Kramer, president and CEO of marketing agency PureMatter, says the best way to ensure accessibility in your organization is to foster a two-way dialogue with stakeholders. The approach, he says, is not unlike the one Zappos CEO Tony Hsieh takes at his company. Rather than rewarding customer service representatives for the speed with which they resolve customer complaints, Hsieh encourages his employees to spend time talking to customers. “Time spent dialoguing is more important than the speed to closing a ticket or selling their products,” Kramer writes on his agency’s blog. “Toss your fears aside and become socially accessible; it will be the strategy that makes the difference to your customers and your business.”

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