Subject: How transparent is your leadership?
Here is an interesting article arguing that leaders should communicate in a transparent way (how transparent is your leadership?). It says that they should share information and tell people what they are actually thinking.
What do you think? Is this good practice or dangerous advice?
If you are not a leader yourself, what is the impact of transparent (or the opposite) communication from leaders?
This comment was last edited on Feb 12, 2010
When you are appointed to your first management role it is natural to feel wobbly rather than confident. A manager who relies on the intrinsic authority of their role never achieves the best from their team, because they are always holding something back in the area of relationships.
Left unchanged this behaviour can turn into intimidation and bullying.
If the manager and their team members all try to adopt a transparent style it removes misunderstandings and directs energy to the task instead of to protecting your position or covering your tracks. The manager and the team members can each produce their "shopping list": the former's will be headed "What I expect from you" and could include points such as
- Be brave and honest; say what you really think
- Don't cover up mistakes -- learn from them
- It's not weakness to ask for guidance, or use me as a sounding board.
The team members' list will be headed "How you can help my performance" and will make requests of the manager such as
- Understand the reality of my work
- Don't breathe down my neck.
- Give me a few overriding prioirities.
It will help to add a further note of realism in both lists, such as for the manager to include "Be aware of my pet issues and do these well", and for a team member to include "Tolerate my harmless eccentricities" !
This comment was last edited on Feb 12, 2010
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