People who can’t lead confuse secrecy with power. Secrecy is stupid unless it is required for legal and ethical reasons. When you hide information from your team, you’re telling them you can’t trust them. Everything always becomes known so secrecy doesn’t work.
Your team can’t learn about major issues from the newspaper. If they do, they’ll become renters, spectators, and tourists. You’ll never have a team truly invested in the mission and the organization. They need to hear it from you.
The more your team knows, the better they will perform. Educate them about the mission, vision, goals, objective, operations, and organization. Pro-actively address their potential questions. Help them see and understand how and why what they do matters so much to organizational success. From the time you recruit and hire them through onboarding, evaluation, and promotion, and during every single week on the job, leaders ensure that employees know and comprehend all aspects of their job and the organization.
People want to be trusted. It enables them to take ownership. Knowing more helps them see the big picture and think like leaders.
There could be instances when information is legally protected and must remain confidential. However, much of what the organization does each day to fulfill its vision and achieve and sustain success does not fall into that category.
Treat employees like owners and investors and keep them fully informed in real time. They need to know where are we, what’s the strategy, what’s your role in it, and what’s working and what’s not. Always be open and honest whether it’s good or bad news. As Abrashoff notes, “Your team can handle it.”
Trust makes a team. Trust produces performance. Trust them and they’ll trust you.
Sources: Abrashoff, 2002; Blanchard, 2011; Collins, 2001; Drucker, 2001; Grant, 2017; Kotter, 2012; Lencioni, 2012; Maxwell, 1998; Welch, 2005.
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