Is it possible to be transparent as a leader?
Recently, I had an experience where I worked with another leader to make a change. The change would affect all the people we lead, so it was important that we be transparent. We informed everyone that the change would happen and tried to fill them in on all the details.
We also explained that the change needed to happen for the progress of the organization and for the desired outcome. From there, we asked for everyone’s input and feedback prior to making the change. We continued to make this request over and over again for many months prior to making the change.
We made this request for several months and everyone told us they trusted us and the direction we were going. They gave us their vote of confidence numerous times and said they were okay with any changes that would come on the fly because they felt we had been transparent. This gave us confidence to move forward with our plan.
Change Plan
For the change plan, there was a timeline that had to be upheld to keep the project within budget and on schedule. The point came where we were months into the project, we had been transparent, and people had given us their vote of confidence, so we began to move forward. At that point, it would slow down the project if we made any additional changes prior to moving forward.
As soon as we began to move forward on the change plan, many of those who had given us their vote of confidence for months began to complain and say that they wanted everything done differently. This came as a blindside because we had done everything we could to be transparent and even had gotten the vote of confidence. Then all of a sudden we were receiving a lot of kickback. This created many challenges for me and the other leaders on our team.
So how are you transparent as a leader? What do you do to be transparent with those you lead? How have you been transparent and seen that lead to success? Please share your thoughts in the comments section below!
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