U.S. Army photo by 1st Lt. Ryan Debooy

Have you ever hesitated outside your boss’s office, or took a deep breath before dialing your commander’s phone number?  What if you had an idea on how to improve your organization, but decided not to say anything? Have you ever felt like you needed to strap on body armor before bringing bad news to your supervisor?

As leaders, we often overlook the quality of being approachable as it affects our subordinates’ and organization’s effectiveness.  Organizational leadership literature is abundant in describing the benefits of a learning organization and the need for leaders to promote a culture of learning and collaboration.  However, those leaders often struggle to successfully set the conditions in the organizations they lead because they are not approachable. More than just a nice-to-have, the art of being approachable is a necessary attribute for effective leaders at any level or organization because it is a pre-condition of trust and open communication.

How to define approachability?

Approachable means capable of being approached; open and accessible to people; easy to meet with and deal with.  More importantly, for leaders it means being easy to understand and connect with. This means your subordinates find you easy to talk to, and others do not fear your reactions to information or situations.  In a sense, being approachable comes down to perceptions of others and the reputation a leader sets for themselves in their interactions with others.  

The concept of being approachable can be easily understood, yet many leaders fail to understand how to achieve it themselves.  What prevents people from being approachable? It doesn’t just happen by publishing an open door policy or putting out mints in your office.  Some false assumptions about approachability:

False Assumption 1: Telling everyone that I am approachable will make me approachable.  

False Assumption 2: If I smile a lot, act generally pleasant, or joke around with people, I will be approachable. 

False Assumption 3: My expertise, position, or rank will guarantee people will come to me with their ideas, problems, and concerns.  

These false assumptions might seem obvious to some, but ask yourself how many leaders you know who believe these assumptions about their own approachability.   What are other obstacles to being approachable? One of the most common and obvious answers is that many leaders do not see the value in it. They don’t see why they should care about being approachable.

Why should we care about being approachable?

For Army leaders, we assess and evaluate leadership performance and potential based on the foundational leadership doctrine in FM 6-22 Leader Development.  This is the framework for both officer and NCO evaluations by which leaders are assessed.  This means the Army expects its leaders of all ranks to embody and live these attributes as the foundation of leadership.   FM 6-22 describes open and candid communications as a necessity for effective Army leaders in paragraph 7-16: 

“Effective leaders encourage open communications and candid observations. An open and candid environment is a key element in creating a unit poised to recognize and adapt to change. Approachable leaders show respect for others’ opinions, even if contrary or out of the mainstream of thought. Some leaders specifically recognize others to provide a critical viewpoint to guard against groupthink. A positive leader remains calm and objective when receiving potentially bad news.”

Leadership is solving problems.  The day Soldiers stop bringing you their problems is the day you have stopped leading them.  They have either lost confidence that you can help or concluded you do not care. Either case is a failure of leadership. –Colin Powell

There are numerous examples of the dangers of military groupthink, and wise Army leaders today are attentive to set conditions against it.  This means not creating an environment of yes-men or carbon-copies of your own thinking. This means leaders should celebrate diversity of thought and opinion as a necessity rather than seeing disagreement as insubordination.  In order for any group to effectively collaborate and problem-solve, leaders must establish the environment to promote the free flow of opposing views and perspectives. The Army’s operations process discusses the importance of this in ADRP 5-0 The Operations Process, in paragraph 1-44:

“Through collaboration and dialogue, the commander creates a learning environment by allowing participants to think critically and creatively and share their ideas, opinions, and recommendations without fear of retribution. Effective dialogue requires candor and a free, yet mutually respectful, competition of ideas. Participants must feel free to make viewpoints based on their expertise, experience, and insight; this includes sharing ideas that contradict the opinions held by those of higher rank. Successful commanders willingly listen to novel ideas and counterarguments concerning any problem.”

The environment of open dialogue and collaboration is described as a responsibility of the successful commander.  This is more than just a good idea, but rather a precondition of trust and the learning climate we seek. The personal example that leaders can set to achieve this is in their own approachability.  If we as leaders want our organization to have engaged members actively collaborating and contributing towards improvement and innovation, then we should deliberately work at being approachable.

With the need for approachability in mind, what can we do to change our specific engagements with others to improve it?  Here are 8 ways to be more approachable:

1. Don’t shoot people down.  Lots of good ideas will be proposed that you know will never be implemented.  If you tell people their ideas are dumb, can’t happen, or won’t work, they will stop telling you their ideas.  Don’t be surprised when they are less likely to come tell you the next time they want to improve something in your organization.  It’s important is to have an open competition of ideas be heard and welcomed even if they don’t all come to fruition. 
2. Don’t stay in your office and wait for them to come to you.  Ingratiation is putting yourself at their level.  This means meeting them in their offices, outside of your work area, or over a meal.  Meeting with a senior leader in their office can be intimidating for some, so finding neutral locations to discuss ideas will increase their level of comfort and familiarity. 
3. Don’t be judgmental.  No one wants to ask for help from someone who they feel will judge them or look down on them.  No one wants to bring their opinions and ideas to someone who might think negatively of them or criticize them as a result.  In order for your people to feel comfortable with being open and free to express their ideas, they need to feel free from judgement.
4. Don’t be preoccupied or distracted. If you are working at your computer, talking on your phone, scrolling through social media, etc. when someone is trying to talk to you, then you communicate that they are less important.  Stop what you’re doing, give someone your full attention, and you communicate that you care about what they have to say.
5. Be relatable. Don’t just talk shop and work all the time.  Find a common interest not related to work (sports, music, movies, TV shows, fitness, weekend plans, etc.)  Be a real human with whom they can find commonality, and they will more easily see you as a team member as well.
6. Be open and readable. Openness begets openness.  What you see is what you get.  No false pretenses or pretending to be something you’re not.  Be sincere, genuine, and not ‘acting the part,’ and others will more easily trust you by not fearing a hidden agenda.
7.  Be a good listener.  Active listening is a must.  The best listeners listen to understand rather than to respond.  When someone comes to you to talk, they came to tell you something.  Did you receive the message they wanted to send? Be mindful of not asserting your own opinions over listening to what they want to say.
8. Manage your reactions and emotions.  Be conscious of your non-verbals and be careful to not over-react to bad news.  Share in the joy of good news, and validate their emotions when needed. If someone brings you an idea for improvement, then show them you value their input by how you react.

Being approachable is not difficult to achieve, but a necessity for successful leaders and commanders.  When we are deliberate about being approachable, we communicate to our team that we value their input and their contributions.  When we are approachable, we are able to receive valuable feedback and build trust in our organizations. When we are approachable, we create opportunities for leadership, mentorship, and empathy.  As Colin Powell’s quote indicates, we as leaders should be mindful of our approachability as a reflection of our subordinate’s faith in our ability to lead them.

MAJ Kadel is currently the I Corps Deputy Engineer.  As an Engineer officer, he served in a variety of Engineer commands and completed two tours to OIF and two tours to OEF.  He recently completed his KD time in 1-2 SBCT, 23rd Brigade Engineer Battalion.