Teach your employees to respect the chain of command

Sounds like some Army stuff, rigid rules and regulations. Gross. That’s the kind of thing we all hate to do. But it has an important place in business and must be understood for an organization to function well, especially if you’re trying to flatten your organization, become more powerful, and grow faster. Rank and chain of command are critical to smooth growth and development. Everyone in your business should know who they report to. Many business owners are looking to flatten their organizations and this is a definite way to support the effort and get there.

Workers must report to their team leader, the team leader to their manager, the manager to the COO, and if absolutely necessary, the owner if involved in on-site operations and above the COO-i.in that order. Each level of management should have the opportunity to handle the issue and let it slide if appropriate, go back to the person with a resolution through the chain of command until the response is achieved and the initial employee is satisfied. Issues should be handled at the lowest possible level, moving up only if the team lead, manager, or whoever is unable to respond to the issue and therefore must go to the next level to get the answer and then feed back up the chain of command to the person. with the authority to discuss it with the employee.

There is no place for an employee to jump through the ranks and go whoever they want, ignoring the chain of command and disrespecting the rank of superior individuals. It is inappropriate, inefficient, and a waste of time and effort. It destroys the organization and prevents proper management skills from being implemented. If and when this happens, your chain of command should be trained to recognize inappropriate communication meant to be handled by a lower rank and should immediately dismiss the communication and send it back to the person to whom it belongs with a mild reprimand to move on. the chain of command.

The chain of command and the need to honor and follow it needs to be communicated from day one so everyone involved understands exactly what the chain is and who to report to with issues, problems, queries or whatever is on their mind. Employees cannot decide who they want to discuss their problems with nor do they have the right and ability to discuss things with whoever they want, whenever they want. This undermines authority and prevents proper functioning.

Let your managers drive. Let the systems control, create ranks and chains of command and follow them. Train your people to understand and follow protocol and issues will be handled smoothly and effectively. This is how it should work. This supports the design of your organization and management and results in order and decorum.

Yes, it’s a bit like being in the Army, except in the Army, there are thousands of people to manage and the issues can be life and death, which shows that this method works. If you follow the blueprint and do this in your businesses, you’ll achieve similar organizational fluidity by making sure the right people are giving the right answers.