If you are an organization that says “Our people are our greatest asset” (as most do), and you mean it, you must default to open. Otherwise, you’re lying to your people and to yourself. You’re saying people matter but treating them like they don’t. – Work Rules by Laszlo Bock. 

The past few years have shown us just how far organizations can take transparency. Any argument on how deflecting to open can have an adverse effect on your organization no longer holds good. We have seen organizations like Bridgewater record meetings and make them available for all employees, Google publish transparency reports, and Buffer & Gravity Payments go public with wages.  These are just a few examples in today’s world where organizations that have taken a leap and shown us how trusting and empowering people can make them stronger.

I can quote examples from my own personal experience where deflecting to open has led to reduced conflict, increased collaboration and improved results. However here, I will quote one from Laszlo Bock’s experience. The first time he complained about someone in an email, the manager promptly added the person to the thread forcing quick resolution. Like Bock says, it was a stark lesson in the importance of having a direct conversation with colleagues. Surprisingly, something as simple as this seems counter intuitive to many of us. I can imagine some of you reading this, silently shaking your head and thinking - ‘this would never work at our workplace’. Why not? Agreed, it is a mindset shift but an essential one at that. 

It is good practice to work assuming no information will be kept confidential within the company. It increases opportunities for collaboration, reduces duplicacy and most importantly eliminates any chance of backstabbing. It also gives people context of what is happening in the organization, how their work links with the larger goal and enables people to be more effective. 

With increasing transparency in organizations world over, it gets harder every day to not follow suit. Your own people, who you consider your greatest asset, begin questioning your decision to not reveal answers to their questions. It isn’t long before you run out of excuses. The wise thing to do is take Bock’s advice. Coach your leadership teams and prepare them to adopt transparency and accept openness. Show them the benefits of doing so and go ahead & empower your people. Do it in a big way and see how far it takes your organization. 

One quick caveat though. Deflection to open doesn’t always lead to immediate results and makes you question your judgement. Results may not turn out to be as expected and leadership teams would want to roll back on these decisions. Under these circumstances, it becomes harder to stay true to transparency; but press on. Big mistakes make for great lessons. Big mistakes also lead to course corrections that result in big wins. Trusting your people & transparency is never a mistake in the long run. 

Ultimately, the question isn’t ‘if’ you will follow Bock’s advice. It is only a question of when.