I had just come out of a business meeting with my immediate reporting team. I was explaining to them the discussions held with my bosses during the annual budget meet. I take every precaution to explain in detail the discussions we had post my presentation about the business scenario as projected by me. This is for them to understand how top management perceives the business and also what is their direction and how we should align our actions. I strongly feel this helps the business and also improves the team morale.
I had a new VP joined the team and this was his first meeting. He was aghast at the details shared. He was coming from a traditional but highly successful family-run business house. This was new to him. During the meeting, though I had noticed his astonishment I had preferred not to react.
As expected he asked for time and came for a meeting. His views were
– Do we really share so many details every time?
– Will it not dilute the role of managers?
– Can employees not take you for a ride?
I explained to him that in today’s world all employees should have access to information. Having said that one should be extremely careful about disclosing the details. As a person who shares should know exactly what information should be shared and what should not be. I explained that there is a financial deck that is not discussed. I would like everyone to know broadly the direction, management expectations, and also the broad investments company is contemplating. There could be several details that are not shared. This will definitely improve the engagement of all employees. Also, it will improve the trust within the group. Thus there are lesser chances of taking one for a ride. He was not fully convinced but felt a little better, I did ask him to interact with peers for more clarity.
I strongly feel that today every employee should know all information that is relevant to his level in the organization. Though I am not a fan of hierarchical communication some protocols must be maintained. Once the entire team has clarity on the goals of the team and also individuals then it becomes easy to drive the team. Good transparency definitely has a huge impact on the team spirit and morale of the team. The team is highly motivated and tries to run the extra mile. All team members are open with each other and in case of any problem faced by one member is the problem for the entire team and it gets resolved quickly.
When a new member joins the group, if he comes from a similar work atmosphere then he quickly gets into the group and is well accepted. However, if the new member does not believe in transparency then starts the conflict. If the member is in the senior position then the juniors struggle to work with him. This can lead to a substantial drop in output. The management starts wondering what went wrong and the new member by virtue of more access to management can blame the team. It’s at this time that the top team should identify the management style of the new manager and coach him. That would benefit both individually and also the organization.
