Generally I find that full transparency, within reason, is always the
best option. I have previously worked on projects with coworkers
who shared only what they felt was absolutely necessary, but in my
opinion that attitude created a challenging environment and hindered
the final project. Transparency is key to developing trust. "When
information is not shared or there is a perception that information is
not shared, employees feel betrayed. They feel as though they have
not been trusted, and therefore their trust in leadership erodes."
(Reina, page 38) Employees and managers may have very different
perceptions of what information is required to do their jobs, and I
learned that transparency is critical to job performance while working
in the call center. I could read callers the script that management had
written, but when I could genuinely speak to the reasons for a
particular process our customers could felt that the interaction was
much more genuine and trusted me more as a representative of the
company. Honesty is also ranked as the top determinant of trust.
(Cardon, page 9)
Managers may not be able to be completely transparent, but alerting
employees to the boundaries of confidentiality is valuable as well.
"People are able to understand and respect the need for
confidentiality and leadership’s responsibility to maintain it. When a
leader says, 'I am not able to share all the pertinent information at this
time,' that degree of honesty actually enhances people’s trust in their
leader. Interestingly enough, even though they are not provided with
'all the information,' employees feel informed." (Reina, page 38)
Reference
Cardon, Peter. W. (2020.)
Business Communication: Developing
Leaders for a Networked World. Fourth Edition.
University of
Southern California. McGraw-Hill Education.
Reina, D. S., Reina, M. L. (2006).
Trust and Betrayal in the Workplace
.
Berrett-Koehler Publishers.
https://learning.oreilly.com/library/view/trust-and-
betrayal/9781576759493/?sso_link=yes&sso_link_from=SNHU
