Communication and transparency

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Communication and transparency

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By Mary Carmen Chimato. Originally appeared in slightly different form with the title The Important Process Before Transparency as an August 10, 2008 post on Circ and serve.

I have been thinking a lot lately about the concept of transparency. There are projects going on, new people joining the staff, changes in policies and procedures at MPOW[1] that require good communication and a level of transparency in order to make things go smoothly and to keep everyone as informed as they need and would like to be. I believe that transparency in communication, decision-making, procedures and policy is ideal and I support any effort to improve in this area.

However, more and more I am starting to think that an important and essential first or pre-step needs to happen and is often overlooked. This being: creating a climate of open communication. What I mean by this is a work environment where people are comfortable being honest and direct, sharing their opinions, without the fear of, not retribution, but offending people. I know that someone will always be offended by something, I’m not that naive. We spend a lot of time coaching people on how to communicate more effectively and how to be better at giving feedback, but we don’t spend enough time on the other side of that equation; receiving feedback.

Receiving feedback

Receiving feedback is a skill. It takes a great deal of self-awareness, self-control, self-confidence and self-esteem. It is something that with practice we can improve. I don’t have a five-step improvement process for this, but I do have key points that I try to keep in the back of my head.

  1. I am secure in the knowledge that I am good at what I do. This is not conceit or arrogance. This is recognition that I am doing exactly what I want to be doing, what makes the best use of my skills and talents and what I enjoy doing on a daily basis. It is reinforced by positive feedback from my staff, my colleagues, my supervisors, performance appraisals and the fact that I still want to get up and go to work every morning.
  2. What happens in my professional life does not necessarily have much, if any, bearing on my personal life. When I receive feedback about my work, it is just that. It is not a remark about my soul, personality, morality, intelligence, character or who I am at the core of my being. If it was, I’d have a lot more issues that need to be addressed.
  3. The people I work with are my colleagues and collaborators, not my enemies. There is no hidden agenda or conspiracy to see me fail. I consider what I am being told before I react. Is it relevant? Does it make a valid point? How can I change or improve the issue? What is the desired outcome and how do we get there?
  4. I can’t please everyone. Being a manager puts you in the undesirable position of having to hear feedback that you sometimes can’t directly address or comment upon. You just have to hear it. We sometimes have to make decisions when there is no time to consider all outcomes and possibilities. A decision has to be made and we deal with the fallout later. Sooner or later someone will disagree or be unhappy. That is just the way it goes.
  5. Nine times out of ten it is not going to be catastrophic. There are very few decisions or actions that cannot be reversed or modified. We are not performing brain surgery, we are trying to help people. We are fortunate that we have rules that can be adjusted depending on a situation. This is not a military operation, we have many options and we can try as many as needed.

Through a lot of practice and self-improvement I have become someone who accepts and solicits feedback from my peers, colleagues and staff. I want to know what’s going on and how things can be better. I’m not going to be offended by what I am going to hear, no matter how bad someone thinks it is. I can guarantee that I have thought worse about myself than what I am going to be told.

Not there yet?

Unfortunately, I don’t think we are there yet in our work environments. I think it has improved greatly, but I still see people getting emotional and personal about issues that are purely professional. I recognize that sometimes people care so much about their work that it is hard for them to not identify with it, but I also think that in cases like that too much can be a bad thing. You want to be open to what people have to say.

All criticism is not equal

Another important point to consider is that not all criticism is equal. Is it coming from someone you really admire and respect or is it coming from a person who is always negative, never has anything positive to say and never has a solution to a problem, just the list of problems? If it is the latter, why do you care? Our most important critics are the people we admire, respect, and care about. When they stop giving you feedback, wake up, you have a problem.

Moving toward transparency

I have no answers about how to change an environment into an open one. I think it is something that can be approached on two fronts:

  1. Locally, on a department or unit basis. A manager needs to create and foster this climate and model the behavior themselves.
  2. Top-down. An organization must commit to becoming a haven of open communication. Everyone must practice what is preached.

Excerpts from the comments

  • Lui Sieh commented (in part): In my experience, [transparency] is a bit of a chicken or an egg conundrum. I think I’ve come to the realization that in order to achieve [organizational] transparency...one must practice it first--as a personal, professional, leadership style... That builds up one’s credibility to lead the change... [I]t takes a lot of courage to practice it in an hostile environment because it will leave one extremely vulnerable. Nevertheless, we must start out and “just do it” because most people won’t or can’t.
  • radicalibrarian said (in part): I see many organizations touting transparency long before they’ve started the long journey to making it a reality. You said that before a climate of open communication can happen one must be open to receiving feedback. I would go one step further back and say that I think your “Receiving Feedback Five Step Improvement Process” (and more!) are necessary elements before any of this can happen... I think organizations need to start with some of the basics...and go from there... Yes, yes, it’s embarrassing to start from scratch but it is time to start!
  • Chimato responded (in part): Transparency has to be adopted as a personal, professional leadership style... I am very much a “what you see is what you get,” direct, honest person and I have found that it is vital for me to be exactly that at work and that I work better with people who recognize that. They don’t necessarily have to be the same way, but those who recognize that I work better with honest feedback and information, tend to be the people that I create amazingly productive and collaborative professional relationships with. I also agree that we just have to get up and do it. It takes a tremendous amount of courage to do that whether you’re in a great or horrible work environment. But someone has to take the first step and make the unpopular decision, point or case. I don’t know if there is a class that you can take to hone this skill. However, I do think a huge component of being able to do this has to do with whether or not you are happy in what you are doing... that is, even if you are in a toxic or bad environment, you still love the work you do. Because if you don’t love what you are doing, you’ll never care enough to change anything.
  • Colleen said (in part): Something else to address about the whole “being afraid to offend someone”: Perhaps in addition to training people to be less sensitive to constructive criticism, we should also train people that “offending” people--particularly [in the] course of providing constructive criticism--is a necessary and healthy part of a democratic society.
  • PJ asked (in part), speaking as "an honest, direct communicator myself": I am in an environment where these qualities are not valued and have actually been told not to be so forthright with my “opinion” and to learn how to schmooze and “get along” better on my performance review! How does one carry on in such an environment?
  • Lui Siuh responded to PJ (in part): What’s helped me is to find the appropriate language--every organization has that “code”--that others can accept. Then translate your directness and honesty into that form and you can be yourself and say the things that need to be said. Some people think that’s part of “politics” and so it is, but that’s [work] life for you...
  • And Chimato added: Every organization has its own culture and that culture usually becomes evident in “politics.” My advice... take some time to watch the way things work in your organization. Identify someone who seems adept at navigating the place and tends to get what they want and make things happen. Watch what they are doing and see if you can take some cues from their behavior and approach. If possible, sit down and talk to them, seek out advice. I do think it is possible to be direct and honest in every organization, the trick is figuring out the way to convey it.
  1. ↑ MPOW: My place of work

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