Hot Take #2 Transparency in the workplace is sexy.
Growing up hearing old-school phrases like "business is war" and "loose lips sink ships," the concept of workplace transparency, no matter how earnestly proposed, always seemed a little idealistic to me.
But what exactly is workplace transparency? A simple definition of a transparent workplace is "an organization that operates in a way that creates openness between managers/leadership and employees."
Workplace transparency, if implemented properly, is proven to breed long-term success that can be quantified as:
increased trust between employers and employees;
And because being transparent costs nothing, that gives it an exceptional ROI.
So given all the documented benefits of a transparent workplace culture, why aren't more organizations practicing openness and transparency?
🧰 Tools to play with
Making the case for transparency: A practical guide for People Leaders.
Open Resource Library: A collection of free tools, templates and resources to take your organisation to the next level of transparency.
The Open Decision Framework illustrates how to take five open source principles--open exchange, participation, meritocracy, community, and “release early, release often”--and put them into practice throughout the process of making a decision or leading a project.
📚️ Recommendations worth exploring
➡️ To read on your commute to work
Transparency in the workplace can boost productivity, inspire company loyalty, and increase job satisfaction... but it's not as simple as just sharing everything, all the time. So how transparency in the workplace looks like and how to create it?
What is an ‘Open Organization’ and how does it differ from other organizational models?
Open innovation and organizational boundaries, or how different organizational models support or hinder innovation.
Research has shown that authentic leadership may improve team performance compared to traditional management. If you are a leader yourself, start exploring strategies you can employ to authentically support your team in being as successful as possible.
➡️ For the bookworms: The Open Organization: Igniting Passion and Performance by Jim Whitehurst.
Jim Whitehurst, CEO of Red Hat, gives us an insider’s look into how an open and innovative organizational model works. He shows how to leverage it to build community, respond quickly to opportunities, harness resources and talent both inside and outside the organization, and inspire, motivate, and empower people at all levels to act with accountability.
➡️ Binge-eating while binge-watching
A selection of hand-picked experts have 120 seconds and 1 slide to share how some form of organizational transparency empowers teams. They are talking about how to implement the right level of transparency – from comp to careers, to leadership decisions – to empower teams.
➡️ For podcasts lovers
If pay transparency is good for workplace fairness, why isn’t everyone doing it? The calls for pay transparency as a means to remedy existing inequalities and close gender and racial pay gaps are loud and many. But the reality of implementing it is not without complications. So we advise you to put your headphones on and listen to how we can find the right level of transparency for your organisation 👀.
➡️ Laugh & learn
💅Shoutouts
Lavinia Mehedintu & Offbeat for their transparent overview of Learning & Development salaries.
Adam Horne & John Faulkner-Willcocks, special shoutout for sparking the curiosity in me to learn more about open organizations, and for their work @Open Org on making Open Cultures the new norm.
🤝Let’s work together!
When you are ready, here's how I can support you:
See you again next week, with another hot take 🔥
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