People stop giving ideas once they see that you're not going to do anything with them. We try to share our vision at all levels. And then we encourage feedback from staff on the direction we're taking. We share information. We communicate our strategic plans and our operating plans all the way to the lowest branch.
Every branch knows how every other branch has done right up to yesterday.
We take a bottom-up approach to planning and budgeting. We don't impose down. Our regional managers must visit branch offices regularly. The answers are written down and sent to head office. The COO and I also pay scheduled visits to virtually every branch.