When people understand why, they will do a better job. When you have a good dialogue with your employees, they feel more a part of the success of the company. I personally make a strong effort to be visible so that every employee knows me and feels comfortable bringing things to my attention. This gives me a true feel for what's happening and enables me to be a more effective leader. It also tends to keep divisional managers on their toes.
Leaders are open-minded and alert for realities that differ from perceptions .
For example, we were concerned about the amount of time that our employees were taking away from their primary work stations. They were concerned about the length of time it took to locate materials that they needed to do their jobs. While our managers tended to think that the workers were loafing, the workers felt that productivity must not be very important if they were forced to leave their work stations frequently to get materials. The fact was that both parties were right but the company was the loser. Our response was to reorganize the work area so that no one takes more than five steps from the work station to get materials or to pass the product along to the next station.