Workplace Transparency: What It Means & How To Foster It

Listening to the Frontlines for Continuous Improvement

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Early in my career as a project manager in the healthcare industry, I learned about the Gemba walk, a Japanese term for seeing where the work happens. Having worked on the frontlines before landing a project management role, I had always believed that the people who do the work are best positioned to identify what works and what doesn’t, so I was thrilled to learn that this concept had an official name!

Companies that encourage and empower the people who are interacting with their customers day in and day out to provide this kind of workplace transparency—listening to both their customers and their employees—will have an edge over their competition. Not only will they identify the sources of friction that can cause their customers to expend extra effort to get their issues resolved, eliminating unnecessary cost, waste, and redundancy, but they will create an environment where their employees feel seen, heard, and valued.

This can be accomplished very simply and in a variety of ways—suggestion boards, focus groups, data/process mining, etc. The critical success factor—the secret sauce—is in communicating with every person who takes the time to share their feedback, assuring them that their ideas are respected and appreciated, whether or not their suggestion can be implemented. If their idea cannot be moved forward, sincerely expressing gratitude and explaining the “why” behind the decision can be incredibly powerful in keeping the ideas flowing. And if the idea is worth pursuing, include them in the solution development and make sure they receive recognition for their contribution.

This approach truly demonstrates the organization’s commitment to continuous improvement and brings workplace transparency to a new level!

—Rebecca Schoonmaker, Program and Project Management

Open Communication and Active Listening

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To me, workplace transparency starts with an open line of communication at all levels. In my experience working with many startups and small businesses, I’ve found that sharing goals, strategies, and potential issues with employees helps them know exactly where they stand. Guess what? That’s the case for larger companies, too!

Along the same lines, I believe creating avenues for employees to provide feedback on their day-to-day tasks and operations and being able to share concerns with management is equally important. It’s hard to be open to feedback, but people appreciate knowing they have a voice and their feedback is welcome. This is exactly why, as a project manager, I ask for my teammates’ opinions, and always take notes. There is no way that the ideas I have are the only correct ideas! Why would I want my team to think that I thought my ideas were the only ones that mattered?

We all know what it’s like to work in a place where our opinion doesn’t feel valued, don’t we? How about going to work and feeling like your manager is out to get you? Hopefully, many of you have not had that experience, but unfortunately, I have. Talk about having a hard time getting up and going to work. Giving employees the feeling of knowing their opinion is heard and valued, and that their work is important, is priceless.

They do say that people leave leaders, not jobs, right? So when leadership listens and asks valuable questions, setting an example for everyone else, trust and loyalty tend to grow, leading to a more successful company.

—Bri Nightingale, Customer Success and Project Manager

A Foundation of Trust

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Every organization has the goal of building and sustaining a high-performing culture. The foundation for healthy relationships begins with trust. Trust fosters open and honest communication, and that leads to organizations having the ability to perform at the highest level. But how does an organization build a culture of trust?

As we have heard, it can take a long time to build trust, but trust can be diminished very quickly. For organizations to begin the long journey to building trust, it starts with transparency. Transparency is the cornerstone to begin building trust.

Transparency between people begins to foster the foundation for a relationship that can lead to mutual benefits for both people. We often hear the term “networking.” Before we can develop relationships such as coach, mentor, or even career sponsor, there must be transparency in the relationship.

Each organization has a culture. The journey to becoming a high-performing culture with trust has to begin with transparency from the leadership. Honest communication from senior leaders fosters a culture where everyone knows they can trust what is being communicated. There should always be a powerful correlation between transparent communication and the follow-up events that occur, including honesty if the future is not clear at the moment.

To build trust in your relationships and within your organization, try these three actions to start your journey:

1. Find someone you can trust. Use wisdom to take one additional step to be more transparent and authentic in your communication.
2. Develop one question for your line leader or senior leaders that you believe will provide more transparency to the organization.
3. Seek feedback from a trusted colleague or leader on what you can do to build and/or sustain a high-performing culture.

Transparency is the building block to building both high-performing cultures and mutually beneficial relationships.

—George Clayton, Global Pharma Leader

Clear Communication to Drive Engagement and Performance

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From the perspective of an employee communications professional, workplace transparency means that your teams understand your purpose, vision, and goals—and how their work contributes to advancing them. This builds trust, accountability, and commitment throughout your organization.

Informed, engaged employees are more productive. In fact, Gallup measures this and reports that organizations that score high in transparency and engagement achieve earnings-per-share growth that is more than four times that of their competitors.

Organizations that foster workplace transparency spend time training their leaders and managers to promote open, consistent conversations between managers and employees about goals, objectives, and performance. They are proactive in three key areas.

1. They ensure business objectives and goals are aligned. Employees have a better understanding of what is expected of them and how their performance impacts larger organizational goals.
2. They communicate effectively and frequently, providing regular feedback to their employees. Effective communication is critical to transparency. It starts at the top and is cascaded through every level of the organization.
3. They offer a clear development path for advancement. When employees know what it takes to grow and develop, they stay. Your organization retains top talent and historical knowledge.

Clear communication and workplace transparency are often viewed as nice-to-haves, but companies who treat them as priorities excel at acquiring and retaining talent, engaging their workforce, and ultimately performing at a higher level than others in their industries.

—Jerry Rice, Global Communications and Corporate Citizenship