Let's talk about transparency in complicated times

I have been in the corporate world for virtually my entire 20+ year career.?And in that time, I've found that a lot - and I mean A LOT - has changed for the better, but there are still a handful of mistakes that come up in conversations with friends that corporate leaders continue to make in challenging times. I want to address some of the biggest ones here.?

Business is cyclical and always challenging.?When I worked in traditional media, the cycles of hiring/downsizing, growth/pullback where almost annual. They were expected. Yet, even in those circumstances, leaders would twist themselves into corporate pretzels to categorically deny the realities of the state of their business. This almost always resulted in a couple of sad, but highly predictable outcomes - first, businesses would put out onerous, vague and confused messages to their staff about the state of their business, generally without guidance, resulting in employees becoming exhausted, burnt out and angry/scared.?No one does good work when they're scared or tired or have an empty tank, which often results in the second outcome - continued, diminished output which only fuels the story of the business' challenges.?

I saw this time and time again at the various entertainment, media and tech companies that I and my friends worked for.?Often the excuses used were that we had to "control the narrative" for Wall Street, clients, etc or that employees "couldn't handle" the reality...but the truth is, clients and investors are a lot smarter than we all give them credit for and can see through the messaging just as effectively as the demoralized teams can.?This continues a spiral: the companies shrink, they move chairs around on the deck of their corporate boat, and eventually, hopefully, come out the other end...generally with a much poorer perception in the market.?

Having experienced this myself so many times, and seeing the beginnings of this in the market today, I wanted to offer a few suggestions to those that are currently debating how to manage rough?waters:

• Treat your employees like your partners. Everyone here likely knows this, but aside from liquidity and IP, human capital is often the most valuable resource we all have.?We're nothing without our colleagues and employees, and that means treating them with the same respect and transparency in times of success as we do in times of turmoil.?They might very well be your best way out of the challenges you're facing, and if they're not, and downsizing or changes are necessary, then giving them the respect of knowing what's happening is not only the mensch-y move, it's also motivating. Now everyone is actively involved in the business' reality, not just leadership - and that might create unexpected results.
• Don't make it up. It doesn't work. Stop trying to control the narrative. I've been a marketer for decades and I can tell you with confidence that persuasion doesn't work when it's built on a flimsy foundation. People are smart, they can see through false messaging.?And let's be honest: whether you're a public company or a private one with investors, people are going to trust your business' performance, not what you say about it. So just be honest.?It hurts, I get it, but it's going to hurt a lot more when you're inevitably caught in a lie. Fixing your?reputation is so much harder than managing a tough quarter or year.
• Be generous to those you keep, and respectful to those you must dismiss. I can't say this enough. Business is not fair. It never was. But it SHOULD be ethical. That means focusing on how to motivate the talent you may choose to keep while being respectful and generous to those that you need to let go of due to business realities. Letting someone go is the worst feeling in the world. Doing so dishonorably is even worse.

The market is tough right now. Things are hard. But it won't be like this forever. And the way companies choose to behave when things are tough will show future employees and partners exactly what the true character of your business is.

What do you think about this? I'm curious to hear perspectives from managers, individual contributors, business owners - share your thoughts below!