Continental Who's Who

Transparency Between Employees and Leaders Matters

The challenge that lies ahead for leaders and C-level executives is to remain transparent with their employees. The challenge lies in the fear of trusting employees with the important information about the business. Trust and transparency have become popular workplace demands as employees seek a culture of involvement and authenticity. People want to be involved in long-term leadership plans and overall strategy. They want to be more than just a worker taking orders, but an asset to the company. The ability to make changes within the workplace as an employee can be quite powerful

In fact, there is a significant trend toward transparency in business, according to recent articles in the Boston Globe. Here are some examples:

•      Apptopia, a Boston-based company, has a bank of monitors that are visible to all employees. The monitors show monthly revenues, client numbers, and customer churn.

•      Wayfair provides employees updates on how products are selling that day.

•      A Boston company called Bullhorn that creates staffing and recruiting software, developed a program that gives employees access to co-workers’ e-mails with clients and vendors.

•      Workers at Pandemic, a Boston social media marketing agency and its sister company, Cortex, are invited not just to make suggestions about the way the company is run, but to take matters into their own hands.

Today’s employees want leaders who care and communicate with them. The goals of any business should be to better its performance and to improve the lives of its employees. CEOs looking for transparency should strive to ensure that communication — and understanding the vision and direction of the business — is a strength. It is about communication, sharing of facts, emotions, challenges and opportunities. Poor communication can be a direct cause of confusion and ultimately chaos. People have grown tired of surprises, and want to be kept in the loop. Nothing is harder on employees than when they don’t have clear direction from management or haven’t had a clue about what’s expected of them. Leaders are often perceived as intimidating and cryptic. Importantly, face-to-face interaction is more effective than email blasts and correspondence. Open interaction, such as holding meetings to update the staff, maintains healthy working relationships within the workplace. Lack of trust is damaging to a business. How can employees complete their jobs in an efficient manner if their managers and supervisors are not open with them? Instead of being scared by transparency, businesses should embrace it as not only a way to improve customer service, but to increase employee loyalty. Improving the lives of its employees means that a business rewarding the people who deliver the results.