Joshua Siler is CEO of HiringThing, a modern recruiting PaaS that enables seamless hiring with integrated applicant tracking.
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We’ve all had jobs where important decisions were made in closed-door boardrooms and the rationale for those decisions wasn’t disclosed. For a long time, that was not only expected but accepted behavior in the world of work. It doesn’t work for today’s employees. According to Slack's Future of Work study, 80% of today’s workers want insights into how decisions are made at their organization, and 87% of today’s job seekers want transparency in their future workplace.
Transparency is beneficial to employers, too. When communication is poor and confusing, employees consider leaving their organization. Transparency can improve morale and engagement and lower job-related stress, boosting productivity and revenue. In my experience, transparency also has an excellent ROI—how many other workplace initiatives can you think of that cost nothing?
What Is Workplace Transparency?
Transparency is simply being open and honest with others, even if it’s hard news to break. You can foster transparency in the workplace by creating clear communication channels, having weekly all-team updates, sharing wins and mistakes, being up front about losses or struggles and setting strong ground rules so expectations are clear.
Transparent Leadership Starts At The Top
According to the American Psychological Association, only about half of employees believe their employer is open and up front with them. They tend to assume that their employers consistently keep information from them and only tell them what they want to hear.
We can’t blame employees for this mindset. It’s what they’ve been conditioned to expect. Members of your leadership team may have been conditioned to be secretive. It’s up to those of us leading organizations to model meaningful transparency. Transparency starts at the top.
A study from the Journal of Leadership and Organizational Studies found that when leaders share information, reveal the rationale behind decisions, and express authentic feelings and vulnerabilities, it boosts employee creativity. Employees feel safe being creative when they perceive leaders as authentic.
How To Practice Transparent Leadership
Your top priority should be communicating the company's state and direction. Do this even when you don’t have concrete answers to provide. If things are shifting, share that. If things aren’t going well, be up front about it. Figure out how you can tackle challenges together.
Transparency may seem radical, but it comes down to meaningful, regular communication. Think about the ideal manager-employee review. In the past, annual reviews were often nerve-racking, with employees not knowing what to expect. This isn’t a successful work model.
If an employee is surprised by their review, the manager hasn’t facilitated meaningful communication. Good reviews should be more like check-ins versus surprises. If there has been open communication throughout the year or quarter, an employee will come to those reviews knowing where their management stands. That’s transparency.
At my company, HiringThing, we practice transparency by having two weekly all-hands meetings. It’s a way for the whole company to be on the same page. The company’s executive leadership leads our Monday meetings. We go over the week’s priorities, any changes, challenges faced and wins, and we also shout out milestones and achievements. On Thursdays, each department rotates owning the meeting and presenting. They let the company know what they’re working on, what challenges they’ve faced and their wins. This helps deliver transparency from leadership and across departments.
Company leaders must set an example for their teams. They’ll look to you for cues on how to be transparent, and you can’t blame them for analyzing whether you practice what you preach. Make sure you’re not just saying you’re transparent but are showing you are. Below are some additional ways business leaders can be transparent:
• Conduct regular company- and department-wide meetings. These don’t have to be long or structured. The goal is just to get everyone in the same place regularly.
• Regularly meet with members of your team who aren’t leadership. This could just be for temperature checks, getting to know each other or providing your employees the opportunity to ask you questions.
• Don’t say things like “figure it out” or “surprise me.” Communicate clear expectations. Your employees aren’t mind readers. Don’t expect them to be and then punish them when they’re not.
• Encourage employee feedback and communicate to your company when you’ve made changes based on specific feedback.
• Involve your employees in decision-making. In my experience, people involved in decisions are more engaged and committed. While you can’t involve everyone in every decision, have fact-finding or brainstorming sessions, consistently ask for input and ensure your managers make it a practice of consulting their teams.
Workplace transparency breeds success. How will you set the tone for your team?
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