How Can You Tell Someone Has True Leadership Skills? Watch for 1 Key Sign

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Ever been in an important?meeting?where a topic on the agenda causes tension that you can cut with a knife? Instead of colleagues speaking up to solve an issue, you get poker faces and eyes looking down to avert what nobody wants to deal with. Worse, the problem gets "swept under the rug" as we're too afraid to confront current reality. Then the issue resurfaces later with even more people taking sides, leading to unwanted power struggles that destroy morale and sever relationships.

The same is true for having those?tough conversations?to calling someone to the carpet. We?procrastinate?or avoid confrontation because it's never pleasant to tell someone they're not cutting it.

So when people ask me, "What's one critical area of leadership that managers should develop?" My response takes the air out of people because it's a trait that can seem so counterintuitive: "Be radically transparent."

Before your imagination takes a hold of you, let's qualify radical transparency. It does not mean shaming someone to his face in front of his peers about a performance issue. It's not being "brutally honest" with your team for missing a deadline by sharing your anger or disappointment through unrestrained yelling or dropping choice expletives. Radical transparency is about having presence; it's showing up with the emotional fortitude, for example, to respectfully stand up to someone or something when you feel violated. It's being able to courageously cut through conflict now by exposing wrongdoing in order to avoid more conflict later.

It's also about showing tough love to people who are underperforming. Yes, we want our people to succeed and we should do everything we can to ensure their success. But we also need to recognize when it may be time for them to go.

A Leadership Lesson in Transparency

In 2017, I covered a story for my Inc. column that I'm bringing back here for illustration. Chip Bergh, president and CEO of Levi Strauss & Co.,?told?The New York Times?how he practices leadership transparency. One noteworthy example had to do with managing someone's performance.

I was at Procter & Gamble, which was a promote-from-within company that placed a huge emphasis on the role of the manager to develop their people. In fact, it was part of your performance review.

My first hire was supersmart, but he really wasn't performing over time, and I felt pressure to get this guy promoted. I basically carried him and got him promoted. But about four months later, he was gone for performance reasons.

The big lesson for me, and it stuck with me forever, is that you've got to be really transparent and straight with people, and if they're not cutting it, you've got to tell them where they're not cutting it. Hold the bar up high, and if it's not a good fit, call it.

It's important to understand that transparency goes well beyond organizational accountability actions like revealing sensitive data or reporting all your financial information to your stakeholders. It shows up down in the trenches in interpersonal human behaviors that impact day-to-day operations.

Transparency may be exactly what you need to quell a toxic work culture where people are at odds, the political climate is heavy, and personal egos stifle teams. Case in point, Chip Bergh tells the New York Times:

Being extremely transparent builds trust over time. I'm not a big fan of organizations where people backstab or talk behind others' backs. So when I've led teams, it's always been about how we work together to get the best results.

I've got some trusted people who will tell me if [politics] is going on behind my back. If I see it, you've just got to squash it like a bug as soon as it happens and not tolerate it.

You have to be really clear about how we're going to operate, and if you can't play that way, then you should probably find another team to play on.

Transparency isn't strictly about leveraging positional power, if that's an impression being formed from comments like, "you should probably find another team to play on." Rather, for Bergh, it has always been about the team first and getting the work done. When people are not pulling their weight after you've set the conditions for high performance, then you have to pull the trigger, sooner than later. Here's Bergh:

You have to look holistically at the people on your team and constantly look for ways to strengthen the team. I've never regretted moving too fast to let somebody go. I've had times when I've regretted waiting as long as I did to make a move.

When a leader displays transparency from a place of strength and unity, team members know exactly how they're doing and where they stand with performance. The leader is also willing to solicit feedback and give employees a voice on decisions. Bergh's top employees have benefited from this approach, as they have helped shape Levi's company culture. He tells?The Times:

When I first got here, I interviewed the top 60 people in the company, and I sent them questions in advance, including, What are the three things you think we have to change? What are the three things that we have to keep? What do you most want me to do? What are you most afraid I might do?

I had an hour scheduled for each of them, and by the end, I was really clear about the company's DNA, and the values that were really important to everyone who works here.

Final Thoughts

At a time when job openings and quits have swelled to historic highs, the leadership powerhouse of transparency helps build a foundation of trust. The key to effective transparency? It's found in how we communicate as leaders and managers, every day. Information (good and bad) must flow freely and quickly among managers and employees -- both ways -- so expectations are mutually clear and consistent, and everyone is on the same page. This eliminates confusion, ambiguity, suspicion, and the element of an unpleasant surprise.

What's your take? Has transparency helped or hurt your own leadership? Share your view in the comments and let's learn from one another.

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Special offer for senior leaders

I have created the highly-rated ‘From Boss to Leader’ course to teach managers?the leadership skills they need to succeed. Watch this?2-minute video?to see if it may be right for your management team. Then I invite you to?book a 15-minute call with me?so I can personally hear your organizational challenges and offer some free advice.?

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About Marcel Schwantes

Marcel Schwantes?is a globally-recognized leadership authority, executive coach, international speaker,?podcast host, and?syndicated columnist?with a worldwide following. He teaches emerging leaders the skills to build great work cultures where people flourish and businesses grow.