Passing Judgement Is Not Transparency
“Trust is typically formed when people do what they say they will do.” – Charlene Li, from Open Leadership
I just finished Charlene Li’s book Open Leadership. The book is a very interesting read that talks about how social technologies are changing leadership and 
One communication component that will continue to be a part of leadership and management is trust. Which is why I wanted to share with you Li’s quote from the book. The latter half of that sentence – the “do what you say” part – comes from being transparent.
I know, I know, transparency is an overused and abused term. But we’re going to have to get past that. Understanding transparency is important. Organizations demonstrating transparency will have a competitive business advantage.
Li spends quite a bit of time in her book explaining the concept of transparency. And she specifically discusses what transparency is not. Being transparent isn’t about saying whatever is on your mind. It’s not an excuse to be snarky, rude, mean, hateful, disrespectful or judgmental.
Think of transparency as personal accountability (aka “do what you say”) instead of just brutal honesty. Transparency is about self: self-awareness, self-management and self-discipline. Once we hold ourselves accountable, then we can expect transparency from others and hold them accountable for it. And let me repeat, holding people accountable doesn’t have to be snarky, rude, mean, hateful, disrespectful or judgmental.
I was watching “Top Chef” a few weeks ago. There was an interesting exchange between one of the contestants and celebrity chef/judge Anthony Bourdain. The contestant chastised Bourdain for making fun of him on the show. His point was it’s Bourdain’s job is to critique the food, not toss out snarky remarks for ratings sake. Exactly!
I know what you’re thinking. It’s reality TV. (Please. Don’t judge.) Here’s another example. I was watching football the other night and glancing over at a Twitter chat about business blogs. There were some significant opinions about the need for business bloggers to change their focus from trying to “save the world from itself” to a more personal informational approach. It took me back to Li’s quote on building trust, “do what you say…”
Wonder what business would be like if people spent more time holding themselves personally accountable? A good start is for each of us to hold ourselves accountable and “do what we say”.
Image courtesy of steakpinball
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