“I have an open door policy”, she stated with proud resolve tinged with a hint of regret.

Her door was always open. No matter what, no matter when, her staff could always walk into her office and touch base on whatever they wanted to discuss. Sounds good right? Maybe not…

“How is that workin’ for you?”, I inquired.

And then it started to pour out…

“I don’t feel like I’m getting anything done. My day is a series of interruptions. I end up taking work home with me because that’s the only quiet time I have to get it done. Or I come in really early before anyone is in. My staff think I am either impatient or angry with them and I don’t know why – I am trying to make time for them”, she regretfully confessed.

I could have this same discussion with scores of leaders and managers. It is a common plight in the workplace. Everyone knows leaders need to have an open door policy right?

Well, no.

You need to know how you prefer to work. Are you an analytical, process oriented, convergent thinker who needs to dive deeply into work responsibilities and chew threw them for prolonged periods of intense concentration? Or, are you a creative, random, divergent thinker with a relatively short attention span who loves to work in short bursts of focus and then pop out to connect with people?

Do you prefer to work with people or information? Sure you may be able to do both, but do people drain you or energize you? Does information drain you or energize you?

If you are that analytical, convergent thinker who loves to concentrate for long periods of time with a penchant for information, then an open door policy will kill you. It will be like being woken up just as you are about to slip into a deep sleep. Just as you are about to deep dive into your work, someone pulls you out of your depth of concentration.

And those doing the interrupting will probably feel like you don’t really appreciate them.

Yes, as a leader you need to be accessible to the people you lead. However, that does not mean every minute of the work day. If I have just described you, then schedule times when your door is closed so you can get the focused time you need to be effective in your work. And likewise, schedule times when your door is open so your team can connect with you.

Having a continuously open door can also hinder the growth of your people. They may be coming to you as the “all-knowing dispenser of answers”. Don’t do that. Train your people to bring you solutions, not problems. Help them to become problem solvers – don’t solve their problems for them. Collaborate – “What do you think you should do?”

If your door is closed for a certain period of the day then you get the focused work time you need and your people can also develop solutions to their issues. When your door is open you will then be less frustrated because you will not be perceiving your people as interruptions. You will be in a better, more patient head space to empower them to grow in their ability to solve the problems they encounter.

Likewise, if you are the other kind of leader I described who is a creative divergent thinker with a short attention span and loves people, you will not flourish with an open door policy either. Sure, you will love it, but you will not get much work done. You need to get focused periods of work as well. That may not be your preference, but it is necessary in order to get your work done and not be that leader who everybody loves, but accomplishes little.

Good leaders have both a closed door and an open door policy. They know when the door needs to be closed to get focused work done, and they understand when to open the door to engage with their people for the purpose of empowering them, not dispensing answers.

Don’t fall prey to the open door policy folly – everyone needs open and closed doors.