Communicating with Transparency

This week, I am featuring Erik Herskind, the CEO and Founder of GoDo Discovery Co. based in Dallas. When I worked on the Loyalty Marketing team at La Quinta, his team provided creative and strategic services for our loyalty program, La Quinta Returns. In Erik’s interview below, he discusses how he communicates difficult and challenging news with transparency. He is a firm believer and actively demonstrates Servant Leadership. Connect with Erik Herskind on LinkedIn and visit GoDo Discovery Co. for more information about his company.  

Tell me a bit about yourself, your role, what you do:

I am the CEO and founder of GoDo Discovery Co., an independent creative agency based in Dallas, Texas. As the CEO, my focus is on setting the company’s vision, guiding and inspiring the leadership team and developing business relationships. I’ve been in the marketing space for more than 30 years with the majority of those spent in agency environments. A graduate of SMU, I’ve resided in Dallas since the mid-1980s with my wife, grown kids and Greater Swiss Mountain dogs. 

What does being an authentic and transparent leader mean to you?  

My leadership style has always been servant leadership. Our company’s success depends on everyone being empowered and supported to deliver successful results for our clients. Authenticity and transparency are critical to servant leadership, as team members can only truly be successful when they know the company’s mission and purpose. Being completely open and honest about the company’s goals, aspirations and direction is how I choose to lead the company. 

What do you feel is the hardest hurdle to overcome in your journey to be a more authentic and transparent leader? 

Educating young, new teammates about what transparency means can be challenging. We live in a time where young people share everything all the time. That is not the same thing as authenticity or transparency. Defining what transparency is and is not continues to be challenging.

Have you ever had a situation where you could have ‘sugar-coated’ it vs. communicate with honesty, truth and transparency?

For sure. Sharing company financials or explaining why a teammate was terminated are both good examples of times when sharing the raw, unfiltered truth would have been much easier if delivered in a vague or sugar-coated way.

How did you deliver this communication to your team/employees/colleagues?

I’ve found that presenting news of this nature in a straightforward, fact-based way is always best. Give your team credit for being able to hear hard or difficult news. And always make sure they know you are available for follow up questions in private.

Communicating with Transparency is typically very easy to do when things are going well, what do you do when things aren’t going well? How do you have those difficult conversations with candor and transparency? 

By letting the company know the impact of the negative news on them as individuals and as a company is critical to maintain transparency. For example, terminating an employee that was struggling with a client relationship is in the best interest of everyone in the company and I always make sure they understand that it is my role to protect the agency and sometimes that requires making difficult decisions.

In your experience, how have you cultivated or created a culture of transparency and authenticity for your team and colleagues?

I believe that you lead by example. If the company sees that I am open, honest and fair on a daily basis, they will understand that this is expected of all people here. While rare, we will call out anyone who strays from these values. I’ve found that teammates are the best at expecting other teammates live up to the values and expectations of the company.

How do you communicate, what words do you use?

I believe foremost in being a good listener and asking open-ended questions. It is also important for me to understand what else is going on in a person’s life. I’m not a believer in work-life balance. It’s really more like work-life blend. We don’t leave what is going on in our personal lives at the door when we come to work. So, if something is going on at home I want to know about it.

What about providing continuous feedback?

The term feedback seems to be associated with the negative. So, over the years I’m made it a practice to provide tons of positive feedback. And I always ask first, “are you open to some feedback?” Sometimes the answer is ‘no’ and I respect that. Having conversations frequently and providing feedback when something happens is also a great way to avoid letting things pile up.

How do you feel right before you have to communicate something difficult?

It never gets easy, but it’s what I signed up for when starting this company. People want to know they have a strong and fair leader. And they know this when they see the leader in both the good and hard times remaining true to the values expected of everyone.

Thank you Erik for your time! For more information on GoDo Discovery Co, please visit their website.   

This interview is part of a special project for my 300 Hour Yoga Teaching Certification done through YogaSport Dallas. Any interested in developing their yoga practice or doing teacher training in 2020, please message me or visit YogaSport's website.