Keep an Open Door, but Put a Sign Next to It
When Someone on Your Team Interrupts You, What Do They Have to Bring?
There's a version of the "open door policy" that sounds great in theory and quietly drives leaders bonkers in practice. You tell your team you're accessible, you mean it, and then you spend half your day fielding questions that could have been figured out the person asking them with just another five minutes of effort.
I'm not talking about the big stuff. I'm talking about the small things: the moment someone hits the first sign of friction and immediately escalates it upward rather than working through it.
The problem isn't that your team is asking questions- in fact, that’s a really good thing. The problem is that there's no standard for what it means to actually need your help.
Here's something I've started recommending to leaders who feel like they're constantly being pulled away from their line of thought: whenever anyone on your team is interrupts your focused work time with a question or a problem, they have to bring four things with them.
a precise explanation of the issue. Not a general feeling that something's off, but a clear, short description of the specific problem that allows you to understand what’s going on within the first few seconds of looking at the message.
what they've already done to try to fix it. This is the most important one. It forces the person to genuinely attempt a solution before they come to you (and you'd be surprised how often that attempt solves the problem entirely).
what, specifically, they're asking for from you. Not just "I need help," but "I need you to make a decision" or "I need access to this" or "I need to know if this is in scope."
why it was important enough to interrupt you right now rather than waiting for a better time. Don’t pose this last one as a “how dare you interrupt?!” but more as a “is this really urgent?”
What this does, practically, is turn an interruption into a briefing. You get context, you get a proposed solution to react to, rather than a blank problem to solve from scratch, and you spend a lot less of your mental energy on things that didn't actually require you.
More importantly, it changes what your team learns to do. Instead of defaulting to escalation, they start developing the instinct to work through problems themselves first. The ones who are good will appreciate the structure. You're not putting up a wall — you're teaching them what it looks like to bring a real ask.
Finally, there’s a huge potential benefit hiding behind all of this. If you encourage everyone to try solve the issue themselves and then to try work it out with their colleagues before determining “this needs the boss,” you’ll create stronger team cohesion and potentially surface a leader among the group you can rely on. Almost inevitably, if the group is working together to solve problems and keep them off your desk, one person will emerge as a go-to resource. If it turns out they like that role, you’ve just identified a future right-hand person on your team and can help develop their management skills.
Open doors are great, but free-for-alls will kill everyone’s momentum. An open door with some ground-rules can have a huge impact.
If this resonated, I'd love to hear what's creating friction in your organization. Reach out at tim@11thstreetconsulting.com and we can chat- no commitment, just a chat.