I watched the movie “The Circle” it was an interesting movie about transparency and what we are experiencing with social media at work and at home. How little privacy we have.
Back to real life, how transparent is the company you are working for? Do you know everything that is happening from merger/acquisition, to layoffs and reorganization? How often is your company communicating with you about the financial health and goals for the year? Do you know what the five-year plan is for your company? Do you have any insight on how your company overall growth?
When we speak about transparency do we have the same definition? I do feel most companies are pledging transparency but with “strings attached”. What this means to you? Not everything will be shared. Information is being funneled carefully at different levels. If a company is operating at a loss, they are not going to share that information with their employees. It could trigger a panic amongst them that could result on having some “jumping the ship” very quickly.
How about if a company has a defective product, how is this information shared inside of the company? Most of the time, unless it is going to be a voluntary recall, it will not be shared within the company. We have seen numerous times information that was made public before everyone in the company knew about it. This always affects the workers. It also doesn’t reflect very well on the company and can put a stigma on their employees. Especially if the company is on the front page of every news outlet. Finding a new job will be difficult when you are associated with that type of scandal.
Let’s narrow it down to your department, do you feel your manager is transparent with you? Do you feel he/she is giving you all the information about the department? Do you have open communication with your manager? I think the most important factor is, do you trust the information he/she is giving you? Do you feel your manager is withholding information?
I have seen companies and managers that were as transparent as the muddy Mississippi River. But they always put on a good show. By scratching the surface, you could see their actions were not matching their words.
Do you feel you can trust your company to be fully transparent, also do you feel the same about management?