Do you actually want transparency at work?

It’s common to hear from people that want more transparency at work, I think even more so since the increase in company layoffs over the past few years.

But I’ve come to realise that we have different ideas in mind when it comes to the levels of transparency we each want and I’ll give you an example.

I was working at a company where there had been a call for more transparency from the leadership team. It at times felt like decisions were made out of no where and it left many of us confused by the decision but the process on how they had come to that decision.

To their credit, the leaders acted on this and made a conscious effort to be more transparent with the rest of the business, even when it were things they might not want to tell us.

I had a “aha” moment when one day it was announced that someone had finished up the day prior as they didn’t pass probation. They didn’t go into extreme detail but mentioned their performance wasn’t up to the level they wanted and needed in the role.

I saw that message and though “good, transparency” but I tell you what, a lot of people did not like it at all. They said it felt a bit grubby to tell everyone that we’d not passed someones probation, like kicking them while they’re down and not around to have their say.

“I thought you wanted transparency” I asked them.

“Yeah but this is too much”

Until that point, I had thought of transparency as 0 or 100 but now know that it is a sliding scale and different for everyone. Different on how much they want and what things they do and don’t want to know but importantly, how much they are willing to give in return.

Radical transparency - which to me means 100% transparency, all the time - isn’t for everyone and I think some of you might think it is, until you actually get exposed to it.

Are you comfortable having someone tell you straight why they aren’t happy with your work? Are you comfortable telling someone straight why you aren’t happy with their work?

Are there people at your job that you’d rather not work with, given the choice?

Well in radical transparency, you’d tell them that. Pretty confronting and not easy to do well, so you naturally start to make exceptions.

“Transparency except for” might be how you would need to define your personal preference as well as the culture of your company.