Transparency in Leadership may not be what you think

In its most naive form, transparency can be understood as?having no secrets.?

In a technical sense it can be understood as?open data. Publish all the spreadsheets. Let the people know!

In reality, we all have secrets. And in practice, not all data can be made public, nor would it always be useful if published.

I want to talk a little bit today about a more practical definition of transparency in leadership which is, in my opinion, a?combination of clarity and honesty.?

Can Less really be More ?

Oversharing, a side effect of naively understood transparency, is an issue because it confuses. Like one of those people that talks about 5 things at the same time and shares too many private details, until you don’t know what they want anymore and you just want to get away from them,?a leader who overshares confuses.?

Clarity of message requires conciseness and by definition that requires choosing what NOT to say. Doesn’t mean the data can’t be found somewhere, but?data that is available and data that is talked about are two very different things.

And I know clarity is not the same thing as transparency, but remember the definition we’re working with: transparency as clarity + honesty.?

Honesty: Transparency of Purpose

In leadership, transparency of purpose and transparency of motivation is everything.?No hidden agendas.

You know what I want, what I believe in, how I behave, and what my plan is. I know the same about you.?

Now, you don’t have to know?everything?about me, and I don’t have to know?everything?about you. Only in as much as it relates to the thing the we share: the project, the business, the whatever thing we’re in together.?

As a leader, ask yourself these questions:

What do I want, as a leader? What do I want from my team? What behaviors and skills do I expect? What do I consider good, what do I consider bad? Why? How do I make decisions, based on what? What are my priorities? How do I react to various situations? How can I be approached? How can you change my mind?

These are the questions every member of your team should have an answer for. You must take whatever steps necessary, explain yourself, communicate, set expectations, lead by example, to achieve this core level of transparency.

All the data in the world is not going to compensate for this, if you don’t do it. Sure, publish all the data, share all the details, the financials, whatever, but?if your people don’t trust your motivation and don’t understand your decisions, you don’t have transparency. You just shared some numbers.