Jason Fried, CEO of Basecamp, always seems to pen ideas that resonate with me. And this particular one with his take on CEO’s who claim to have “open door policies” is no exception.

“In most cases, ‘My door is always open’ isn’t really an invitation to speak up. It’s a cop-out. It makes the boss feel good but puts the onus entirely on the employees. You might as well say, ‘You find the problems and then take all the risk of interrupting my day and confronting me about them.’ How many people have taken you up on that offer? Your employees have lots of opinions about everything—your strategy and vision; the state of the competition; the quality of your products; the vibe in the workplace. There are tons of things you can learn from them. But how many of these ideas and opinions have you actually heard? A tiny fraction, I’d bet. The reality is that companies are full of things that are left unspoken. And even when they are out in the open, the CEO is almost always the last to know.”

This doesn’t just apply to corporate CEOs. The deeper message here is that just saying that you’re always willing to listen isn’t nearly as helpful as actually asking real questions and listening—with genuine interest—to the answers.

“What’s something that’s stressing you out these days?”

“How are things going for you this week?”

“What is something I/we could be doing better?”

“What’s the best (or worst, or most challenging, or most frustrating?) thing that’s happened to you in the last couple weeks?

“What’s something you’ve accomplished in the last few months that really made you proud?”

An open door policy will never be as inviting as a real invitation to come in.