Achieved Strategies

Yesterday I wrote about transparency being a matter of ethics.  Leaders have got to know that transparency helps others make sense of the meaning behind actions/words.  It can remove much of the guesswork in those all too frequent times when important information is not disclosed.

So, what should a leader consider when needing to be transparent? Consider these items given the plethora of scandals and the shining moments of leadership in the past three years.

• Realize that it’s not a “PR Moment.” Let me use an example for this one.  I have advocated that many CEOs must acknowledge the impact their tough decisions during the Great Recession has had on employees.  The chief executive must truly speak of his or her understanding of the difficulties employees face.  No sound bites. No big event. Just a sit down conversation speaking the truth from both sides.  If you saw Adjustment Bureau think of Matt Damon’s defeat speech to his political supporters.  It was self-deprecating. He shared information not commonly shared with people outside his team.  Transparency in these moments are felt or acknowledged as powerful and real.  You know transparency when you experience it.

• Know your audience. Transparency isn’t an opportunity to spew your guts, or say what ever comes to mind.  Transparency is responsibility.  You are responsible for working through whatever happens when choosing to be transparent.  Know your audience to influence how direct you can be. How informed are they?

• Be clear on what you want. What outcome do you want? Transparency is also an invitation to others to listen to what you need to say.  What you want to accomplish needs to be clear.  Is it to simply to set the record straight? Address rumors? Get ahead of the rumors? Whatever it is, be clear what you want to accomplish and why.  And be sure to communicate it, too.  If you’re not clear it will only make your words and actions more confusing, worsening a problem.

We owe it to one another to cut through the habit of not sharing the truth. We owe it to one another to share information knowing that others can handle the truth.  It’s when we disguise the truth that creates the need for transparency and admission of deceit. None of us benefits from these circumstances.