Transparency: A Key To Your Effectiveness

Last month I talked about the Skilled Facilitator principle of being curious. This month I want to talk about the complementary principle transparency. Transparency has recently become a popular topic in business as organizations seek to build (or rebuild) trust with customers, shareholders, and employees. This morning as I opened the op-ed page of my Sunday New York Times, the title read, "The New Public [NY Times] Editor: Toward Greater Transparency." Whether you are a leader, consultant, facilitator or a team member, being transparent can help you build relationships and create positive results in ways you didn't think possible.

Transparency is explaining why you do, think or say things. If I say to you, "Can you tell me whether you've sent out the sales report I assigned to you? I'm asking because I have some revised figures that I want to give you if it's not too late," what I said after the word "because" is being transparent. By simply sharing the reason for my question, I'm providing you with important relevant information that helps us address the subject and builds trust.

By being transparent, I get an opportunity to create shared understanding between us. If I don't explain myself, you will guess (infer) why I'm asking you about the report. Chris Argyris' research and my consulting, coaching and facilitation experience tell me that if you're feeling threatened or put on the spot, your guess will probably include negative inferences about me. You might infer that I'm asking you because I'm concerned you haven't met my deadline for sending out the report. If you inferred this, you might also incorrectly infer that I don't trust you. You can see how not being transparent can quickly create mistrust.

So why would you not be transparent? Sometimes we're not transparent simply because we believe that the meaning behind our behavior is obvious and therefore needs no explanation. But we overlook that it's obvious to us only because we have access to our private reasoning! In these situations, it means recognizing that unless you publicly explain your private reasoning, you are taking a risk that others will misinterpret your behavior. This is a relatively easy change to make if you are willing to share what you're thinking.

But sometimes we're not transparent because we want to hide what we are thinking, including the strategy we are using to have the conversation. This usually happens because we are trying to unilaterally control the conversation to achieve our desired outcome and/or trying to minimize the expression of negative feelings.

One of my favorite examples of this is the sandwich approach to feedback. Many managers are taught to use the sandwich approach to feedback when they have some negative feedback to give. They start with and end with positive feedback, "sandwiching" the negative feedback in between. The reasoning underlying this strategy is that starting off on a positive note makes the person more comfortable and makes it easier to hear the feedback; ending on a positive note maintains their self-esteem and reduces their potential anger.

My clients, associates and I use a simple and powerful thought experiment that helps us figure out if we're about to use a manipulative strategy. I call it the transparency test: Identify your strategy and imagine yourself explaining your strategy out loud to the person or people you're working with, and asking their permission to use it.

In the feedback example, you would say, "Lee, I called you in here to give you some negative feedback and I want to let you know my strategy for doing this. First, I'm going to give you some positive feedback to make you feel more comfortable and get you ready for the negative feedback, because I think you're going to get defensive. Then, I'll give you the negative feedback, which is why I called you in here today. Finally, I'll give you some more positive feedback so you'll feel better about yourself and won't be as angry with me. Will that work for you, Lee?"

If you find yourself laughing at the absurdity of what you're thinking - or if you're thinking "I could never share that strategy," you've probably identified a unilateral control strategy that keeps you from being transparent. We usually keep our unilateral control strategies private because they only work when others don't know what we're doing or when they agree to play along. The solution here is not simply being transparent; it's shifting your thinking so you begin using strategies that become more effective when you share them with others.

When we're transparent we share information that makes us more accountable to others. Accountability is another one of the five Skilled Facilitator principles - I'll discuss it next month.

What are your thoughts about transparency? I invite you to email me with them.

© 2005 Roger Schwarz

Roger Schwarz, Ph.D., is author of the international bestseller "The Skilled Facilitator: A Comprehensive Resource for Consultants, Facilitators, Managers, Trainers and Coaches" and co-author of the recent "Skilled Facilitator Fieldbook: Tips, Tools, and Tested Methods for Consultants, Facilitators, Managers, Trainers, and Coaches," both available on Amazon.com and via other quality booksellers.

This article was originally published in Fundamental Change, Roger Schwarz & Associates' free, monthly ezine. You can subscribe by clicking this link: http://www.schwarzassociates.com/ezine_sig nup.html

In exchange for subscribing, you'll receive a link to a free .pdf copy of "Holding Risky Conversations," a chapter from our recently-published fieldbook.

We write Fundamental Change to help you create workplaces and communities that are simultaneously highly effective and that improve the quality of life.

---

Ten Secrets of Super Successful Meeting Planners

Whoever said that being a meeting planner was easy, lied!... Read More

Have You Always Thought That The Best Ideas Come From Research Or Management? Think Again

Many entrepreneurs and chief executive officers are unaware that there... Read More

Uncovering the Secrets to Effective Performance Management

In many ways there are no secrets to implementing effective... Read More

Build Rapport Fast! - Eight Easy Steps

Building rapport is all about creating a relationship, in the... Read More

Planning For Growth

Are you planning your business or are you... Read More

Creativity and Innovation Management ? Hierarchies

Creativity can be defined as problem identification and idea generation... Read More

Basic Management Skills

Recent studies have shown that industrial supervisors are working at... Read More

Supervisor-Employee Relations: Tips For Managers

Supervisor-employee relations are a critical part of a work place... Read More

Mantra for Managers

What do organizations look for in a prospective employee with... Read More

ISO 9001 and Total Quality Management

Total Quality ManagementTotal Quality Management, or TQM, has become one... Read More

How to use NLP for Business?

What is Neuro-Linguistic Programming?Neuro-Linguistic programme is nothing but the study... Read More

What To Do When Your IT Project Is Late, Over Budget, and Looks Like It?s Never Going To Work

Here's a scary statistic. According to four prominent research firms,... Read More

Innovation Management ? Rigorous data analysis

Creativity can be defined as problem identification and idea generation... Read More

Tales from the Corporate Frontlines: The Best Incentives are Free

This article relates to the Recognition competency, commonly evaluated in... Read More

A Corporate Facelift With Sound Bytes

If Baby Boomers can get botox and tummy tucks, then... Read More

Creativity and Innovation Management: The Value Of Due Diligence

Creativity can be defined as problem identification and idea generation... Read More

Service Level Agreement (SLA) Boot Camp

Service Level Agreements, or "SLA's" are tricky but useful mechanisms... Read More

The Compliance Officers Killer Application

It used to be that only the largest multi-nationals needed... Read More

Ten Top Ways for Managers to Motivate Their People

So to help start the ball rolling, here are ten... Read More

Top 5 Services Your Company?s Accounting Department Should Outsource

Accounting is one area which every company has to maintain... Read More

Meetings and Road Trips

Managing a meeting is like setting off on a long... Read More

Innovation Management ? Eliciting Dominant Ideas

Creativity can be defined as problem identification and idea generation... Read More

Oasis in a Cash Flow Desert - Four Resources That Increase Small Business Capital Streams

For small business owners, an enthusiastic vision for smooth, steady... Read More

Five Days to More Effective Inventory Management

The litany of headaches related to the implementation and on-going... Read More

Get Meeting off To a Great Start

When asked what part of their job they find a... Read More