Give Them Your Number
- Robert de Loryn
- 12 minutes ago
- 2 min read
Some leaders say they want to be approachable, yet make themselves almost impossible to reach.
Their door is technically open, but their diary is full. Their people are told to escalate early, but only through layers of process. Staff are encouraged to raise issues, but quickly learn that bad news is rarely welcomed, inconvenient timing is frowned upon, and access to the leader feels conditional.
Then the leader wonders why problems arrive too late.
If you want to hear the bad news first, your people need your number.
That does not mean you become available for every minor issue, emotional reaction or operational inconvenience. It does mean your people know there is a direct pathway when something genuinely matters.
A leader who is reachable sends a powerful message: if it matters to the business, the customer, the team or the culture, I want to know.
Approachability is not about being friendly in the corridor. It is about creating enough trust that people will bring you the truth before it becomes a crisis.
The best leaders do not punish early warnings. They value them. They understand that bad news early is manageable. Bad news late is expensive.
When staff know they can call, they are more likely to think before they do. They assess the issue. They weigh the risk. They decide whether it is important enough to escalate. Over time, the very act of making yourself available can actually reduce unnecessary dependency, because people become more confident in how and when to engage.
This is the leadership paradox. The more genuinely available you are, the less people feel the need to use that access poorly.
When access is restricted, people either hesitate or overcompensate. They delay decisions because they are unsure. They hide issues because they fear the reaction. They escalate everything because they lack confidence. None of these behaviours build capability.
Clear availability builds judgement.
A leader can say,
“Here is my number. Use it when something is urgent, sensitive, high-risk, customer-impacting, people-related or likely to grow if ignored. I would rather know early than be surprised later.”
That one message gives people permission to act responsibly.
It also sets a behavioural standard. Availability is not the same as rescue. The leader’s role is not to take every problem away. It is to support better thinking, faster escalation, stronger ownership and clearer decisions.
RDL’s practical suggestion is simple:
Give your people a clear escalation pathway and define what deserves immediate contact. Then respond calmly when they use it.
If you react badly to bad news, you train people to delay it.
If you welcome it early, you build a culture where truth travels faster than risk.
Your number is not just contact information.
It is a signal of trust.
Comments