Because I wanted my staff to respect my leadership abilities and my superiors to respect my management abilities, I made several important decisions without any real staff input. When my staff balked at supporting those decisions, I recognized my mistake in leaving them out of the process. I now ask for their input before making major decisions and I get comments like "you already have all the answers so you don't need anything from us."

How can I get my staff to understand that I really do need and value their help in my decision making?

As a manager you want to be seen as decisive, confident and knowledgeable. Unfortunately, managers sometimes forget that for a decision to be effectively put into practice requires the buy-in of those responsible for implementation. When employees feel their concerns and/or suggestions have been ignored, that buy-in is unlikely. Get your staff on board with these steps.

Admit your error: Good leaders acknowledge their mistakes and apologize when they've done something wrong. Acknowledge that you don't have all of the answers and that you need the benefit of their experience and expertise to make good decisions.

Continue to ask for their input: Ask often and in a variety of ways — verbally, through written surveys, individually, in groups, and brainstorming. Don't get defensive if the response is less than enthusiastic. Instead, remind them that you value their input and give examples of how you have utilized staff input. Most people want to share what they know and make a positive contribution. When your staff is comfortable that your request is sincere and you are open to their ideas, they will open up to you.

Be clear about how input will be used: Are you asking them to provide information for a decision you will make or will they be part of making the actual decision? The primary reason people get frustrated and stop sharing their ideas is that they think they're being asked to make a decision when they're really being asked to provide information and opinions so a decision can be made by someone else.

Good decisions aren't made in a vacuum. Take advantage of the wealth of information, ideas, and experiences that employees have to offer.