It’s okay to be transparent, but be truthful as well
“Honest communication is built on truth and integrity and upon respect for one another”- Benjamin Mays
Ray Dallio, founder of one of the worlds largest hedge funds, Bridgewater Associates has popularized the concept of radical transparency (check out his TED talk). The idea is that nothing is kept secret from the employees of his company. Every meeting is recorded and available for all staff members to review. If an employees name is mentioned in a meeting and that employee is not present, they are made aware.
As with all new leadership principles, organizations are starting to adopt some form of radical transparency. I am not aware of any organization that has taken the bold approach of Bridgewater.
The Problem with Transparency
For radical transparency to be effective the employees of the organization need to have “radical trust” in their management. This is often the first barrier to developing a culture of transparency.
Many leaders will claim radical transparency then proceed to deliver some diluted version of the truth.
This does not work. Employees can spot this maneuver much better than leaders give them credit for.
Establishing Trust
The example of Bridgewater, while an extreme version of radical transparency, does demonstrate how effective this philosophy can be. Employees are able to call out the CEO without any fear of retribution.
A company does not get to this level of transparency without a significant amount of trust. If an employee fears losing a job by pointing out a weakness or sub-optimal performance of a leader this philosophy falls flat.
Being Honest
The other part of the equation is that leaders need to be honest. Telling staff you are being “radically transparent” then not telling the truth, pulls the carpet right out from under the concept.
It’s easy to tell the truth when things are going great, radical transparency is no problem when the company is knocking its performance metrics out of the park. It is much harder to be transparent when the message is not as positive.
Three steps to fostering radical honesty
All or nothing
This really is an all or nothing proposition. If you are only honest part of the time the whole concept falls apart. Give your staff credit that they can spot when you are not telling the truth. If there are some real reasons that you can’t say anything (i.e confidential situations or legal reasons) then be honest about that. Don’t try to make a bad situation seem better by bending the truth. If you have established trust with your team, then they should be able to weather some bad news.
Encourage it
Let your staff know that you want open and honest feedback. Be careful though. You will get what you asked for.
Don’t react. The best way to undermine this with your team is to get angry or defensive when this feedback is delivered. This creates a culture of fear and silence.
Back to the example of Ray Dalio and Bridgewater look at this email one of the employees sent to him (remember he is the founder of the company):
Imagine if you sent an email like this to your current boss? or even better CEO? How would that go over? In a culture of true radical transparency this type of feedback is common and even encouraged.
Start Small
This concept represents a big change for most organizations where closed high-level meetings allow for information to trickle down painting some form of the truth.
This is the information age. Employees expect (and deserve) to know the truth. Understanding there is a spectrum and some elements of business need to be kept confidential. However those exceptions should be few and far between.
Initially experiment with opening up a couple meetings to a broader segment of the company. If you are in a position to influence how your executives communicate, encourage them to speak honestly about any given situation.
Poll your current staff. Ask the one simple question: Do you fee like you can trust me (or the organization)? If the answer is no, then you have some work to do
The truth will set you free
Often it takes much more energy to figure out how to mold the facts to fit a certain message. This creates a house of cards where one true statement or misstep could send the entire thing tumbling down. Eventually this will catch up with a person or company.
Starting with a radically honest approach removes the burden of having to stay one step in front of the version of truth you have created. No more late nights figuring out how to tell the next chapter. With that headwind gone, you can focus on moving forward and making yourself or your company better.
Amen, Amen and AMEN.