Transparency

When you look at what you expect from your manager, you already have clues about what "good" looks like. What would make you trust your manager the most? Transparency is preached by folks with decades of experience, witnessing this on your own though makes a world of difference. Any team that works well together, must have a fundamental layer of trust in one another. This pays off in many ways and I started building that with sensible transparency.

It's important to clarify what that means. Transparency is not about sharing everything you know at all times. As a manager, I'm involved in a good amount of conversations about planning, performance, alignment, and product direction. A lot of those are stepping stones to finalized decisions. Updating the team about every step of the way is A LOT of noise and creates confusion and potential stress. But it's important to me that they stay informed about major shifts (e.g. product direction).

Transparency also means honesty (or at least it does to me). I won't hide behind a bush when I have to give you feedback. I'll dive right in and share it in a way that fits our relationship. I don't like going through my day with unanswered questions or too many unknowns. I expect my team would feel the same and I try to correct it every step of the way. If I don't know something I say so, if I know little about something I say so, if I know about something I'll share it when it makes sense. The "when it makes sense" is not an excuse to delay things, I tackle why I need to wait before sharing and not pretend like I don't know.

To this day, any time I withhold information I always explain why. This has never raised an eyebrow and I make sure my team understands it. This is discussed openly. Some of the reasons information is commonly withheld are timing (too early), fairness (not fair that some folks learn about something before others), privacy (some information is personal to few individuals), uncertainty (a decision is still in progress so no definitive answer is available), noise (not every conversation is meaningful).

Thoughts

I wanted to share a few scattered thoughts on why transparency is important. This way of communicating becomes critical during hard times (see also Leading When Times Are Hard). Establishing a record of clear communication at all times is a tremendous help in building trust. When I discuss anything with my team, they know I share everything I can at that time. If there's something I'm not sharing, they will know why I can't at the moment. I found that to pay off throughout my career, and being on the other side (where transparency was lacking) made it for a damaged relationship with leadership. I understand (believe me I do!) that part of our role as managers is to shield the team from the noise and the stress, but that doesn't mean we should completely isolate them from what's happening around them. Not once has a news come as a shocking surprise to my team unless I also didn't know about it. I expect to keep this habit for the foreseeable future as trust is a building block to any successful team.