I have asked myself this question very often. Thoughts ran through my head like what am I allowed to share, do I lose the respect of my team if I am too transparent and they notice that managers are struggling with the same things as they are, am I allowed to admit that I don’t know something,…

I found it difficult to be transparent and so, strangely enough, at the beginning I had adopted the behavior of some of my bosses who passed on information very late or not at all. And to be honest, I still get as annoyed today as I used to when someone is not transparent with me. Transparency has to do with honesty and when someone doesn’t share something with us, we either don’t feel taken seriously, respected, trusted or excluded. Exactly the values I actually wanted to avoid with my team.

Today, I’m as transparent as I can be with my team and tell them what I’m working on, or my meetings, though not always in detail of course. I show them that sometimes I’m just as nervous before meetings as they are, and you know what? It hasn’t hurt my relationship with my team and their respect.

Of course, there are projects, communications or procedures where one is obligated to maintain confidentiality – which I do. Mostly information that comes from higher executives or levels. Or situations where the team is nervous enough and it would be counterproductive to be transparent (because you are actually just as nervous and someone has to be strong, even if only outwardly). But there are also many things that we can share and here it does not always have to be information but it can also be experiences or the reporting of situations to let them participate.

or example, my team was curious to know what happens in All Lead Management Workshops or what it’s like to have a meeting with our Directors or VPs. Funnily enough, these were exactly the things I had been interested in before. They laughed because they couldn’t imagine me being super excited when I had a meeting with several higher level managers. They root for me when we have our Quarterly Review meeting, which causes not only me to break out in a few sweats. And I also ask them for their opinion when a topic is on my mind.

 I try to be transparent about what I’m doing – because isn’t that exactly what we sometimes questioned – what our supervisors are doing? And wasn’t it also sometimes the frustration of being kept down because we weren’t trusted to handle certain information?

 I know how hard it can be when you want to be transparent and you’re not allowed to for legal reasons. Knowledge is power. And sometimes dealing with it is not so easy.

I would like to encourage everyone here to be more transparent with their team. Being transparent creates trust and sharing information is not a one-way street. My team members are also transparent with me and they would be surprised what their team members know. Don’t make the mistake of underestimating them, be transparent and involve them in your topics. Especially on operational topics their opinion is invaluable.

My advice:

• Report from your work or a meeting that you had.
• Be honest and tell you team when you have an important meeting and are a little bit nervous. You will be surprised how much you support you will get from them. 
• You made a mistake – be transparent and tell them! (Read more in the article “how to handle mistakes”)
• Share information and slowley forwarn them if something is coming. Now I should be careful what I write, because I don’t know who is reading this. But I admit – sometimes I share information, as they say in German, under the hand. Of course nothing for which I had to be legally prosecuted or sign something or someone told me in confidence, but things that I have overheard or find necessary to slowly prepare others