In last year’s hit drama Severance, viewers follow a group of colleagues into what may be the world’s least transparent workplace. With chips implanted in their brains that separate their workplace identities from their lives in the outside world, employees at the fictional Lumon Industries aren’t able to connect the memories between the personal and professional spheres. Even while working at Lumon, the larger context of their daily tasks is never divulged, and what may seem like compartmentalization has huge complications for the “severed” employees both in and out of their underground workplace.
But out in the real world tech industries, many companies are taking the exact opposite of Lumon’s fictional approach and are embracing greater workplace transparency to build trust and connection across teams, even during times of change.
Whether a company is navigating larger organizational choices around performance data and pay transparency or managers are hoping to foster opportunities for their reports to provide feedback, building a culture of transparency can sometimes feel like a tightrope walk for tech leaders.
But building a positive workplace culture can be simplified by approaching the process with intention and keeping employees informed. Moving toward a positive and transparent culture is not an overnight switch. But over time, companies can make strides toward that goal by offering clear expectations and objectives on both the individual and company scale, providing insight into diversity and inclusion practices, encouraging open lines of communication and finding ways to elevate voices at all levels of the company. And by building a positive and transparent culture, leaders can improve morale, reduce employee turnover and help draw new talent to the team.
Build In SF heard from leaders at Leyton and Publica about how they navigate this honest approach to communication while respecting the boundaries of professionalism and privacy.
How do you encourage a culture of transparency — particularly when there are difficult-to-answer questions on employees’ minds?
It is always a good time to be transparent, and that it is only amplified when an industry is on rocky ground. As a leader, you can filter information when needed by asking prompting questions to see what each contributor needs to know. It is also important to show more transparency about the items that your teams can be held accountable to. This in turn will encourage them to provide transparency about the things they need help with, changes they would like to see and new areas of opportunity.
How do you make yourself available to employees so that they can ask relevant questions?
Operationally, I hold weekly team meetings to relay information and always ensure a portion of the meeting is collaborative, with an emphasis on making my team members feel more in control of the dialogue. This fosters an open environment around communication. I am always available in multiple channels and at nearly all hours of the day allowing me to match with a team member’s preferred communication style. I also try to match their cadence, as some need lots of talking time and some like to remain a little more autonomous. In a more emotional sense, the transparency and trust factor allows conversations to go beyond the workplace and enter into their personal lives. Investing the time to understand what motivates them outside of work helps me to understand how to motivate them at work.
Remember to keep things light most of the time. Work is already stressful enough.”
What tips would you share with fellow leaders who are endeavoring to create a culture of transparency right now?
Show some humility and listen to your teams with curiosity. Humility will put you on their level, as we are always most critical of ourselves at work. When others see you make mistakes, get things wrong or have bad ideas, it gives them the comfort and trust to be open and transparent with you. Their curiosity will allow you to learn what they need and how to best help them succeed. And tell jokes so bad they wouldn’t make a hyena laugh — or just remember to keep things light most of the time. Work is already stressful enough.
How do you encourage a culture of transparency — particularly when there are difficult-to-answer questions on employees’ minds?
A culture of transparency is created through being as open and honest as you can with your team and building trust. When team members come to you with questions it’s important that they feel listened to and that you respond with as much information as you are able to at the time. Obviously, there will be occasions when you’re unable to answer a question as fully as you’d like. In those scenarios, it’s as important to be honest and simply say, “I can’t answer that right now, but when I am able to, I will.”
How do you make yourself available to employees so that they can ask relevant questions?
With the new hybrid model of working from home and in the office it’s sometimes hard to appear as available as it was when we were always in the office. I make sure that I have weekly one-on-ones scheduled with my direct reports, and everyone is always able to see my calendar. If something comes up that they want to discuss outside of their one-on-one sessions, they can put time in my calendar, jump on a quick Slack call or grab me when we are in the office together.
What tips would you share with fellow leaders who are endeavoring to create a culture of transparency right now?
Be honest and ensure that you maintain and build on that level of trust with your team. If you make sure that people in your company believe and trust in what you stand for and where you are taking the company, the right employees will flourish and come along for the ride.
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