Early in my career, I was quick to share all the good news and was constantly working to “manage” the bad. I also had a lot of information that I simply didn’t see the value of sharing, or maybe I thought it made me more valuable or in control if I kept it to myself. Funny how our minds can rationalize and justify things even when they are not the right thing to do for everyone involved.
Honestly, I also think that by not sharing some bad news or a mistake I had made, I was a better leader. I did not want to appear weak by advertising my mistakes. Who would listen to a leader who wasn’t perfect? In many cases, I genuinely believed I was protecting the team.
In reality, I was creating a vacuum in communication — and vacuums always fill up with negativity and fear. In addition, not owning up to my mistakes made me less trustworthy. This also taught others on my team to hide their mistakes which creates all types of problems. When team members become afraid of making mistakes, growth slows and bottlenecks occur.
With the help of coaching and feedback from my team members, I began to practice leading with timely transparency, and everything changed.
How I Increased Transparency
I shared the bad news regularly.
I began to include the bad news as part of my regular updates. Lost clients, lost team members, and a lack of progress on key initiatives. Whatever I interpreted as bad news, I tried to communicate it to the team.
I owned my mistakes.
I regularly communicated mistakes that I had been part of and what I had learned from them.
I shared the whole picture — and the why.
I began to share more information on our strategy and the decisions that had been made. Most importantly, I share the WHY behind decisions or various strategies. Clarity is a kindness and leads to higher performance.
We created and shared key performance indicators.
Whether we were ahead or behind, I would share what we had identified as our key performance indicators as well as where we were currently. People need a scoreboard.
I asked what people needed to know.
I started asking, “Where do you feel in the dark? What information would help you do your best work?” The answers surprised me. Often, it wasn’t confidential data they craved — it was context, priorities, and decision criteria.
I shared more of myself.
People can’t know you if you are not transparent about what is going on in your life, both career and personal milestones.
What Changed?
Trust rose. Ownership rose with it. When I shared bad news, the team leaned in, not away. People want to be part of the solution; they just need to be treated like insiders. People felt more valuable, so they became more valuable. We had less gossip and negative talk. People owned their mistakes and learned faster and from each other. My influence grew even when I had bad news. People felt a strong belonging as they could ask for transparency on things that mattered to them. We had less stress as we had better scoreboards to know if we were ahead or behind.
Which of these can you improve on? How will you change your communications to be a more transparent team member and leader? What would you add to my list?
One thing is for sure: transparency beats perfection – every day, and frankly, it’s more fun and a lot easier than trying to control things.
Tom Hood says “Joey Havens shows the way to build a magnetic firm that attracts, retains, and develops people in a never-ending cause to constantly be better. We need this book and message more than ever.”
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