Top-Down Transparency: How Important Is It To Your Company’s Success?

By Jezabel Southard

Posted on July 30, 2014

“Transparency.” The word has been repeated so often that in some circles, it’s become just another business buzzword. But behind this buzzword is an idea that can be crucial to a company’s success. When the doors are open and communications flow freely, everyone from the executive board to the entry-level staff can do their jobs better, combining forces toward a single company goal or mission.

Transparency matters – but where should it start? Here are four reasons a transparent company culture should begin at the very top:

1. Motivation and productivity improve. Employees work better when they know the answer to the question, “what’s in it for me?” Recent research implies this is particularly true for young workers, members of the Millennial generation, who are used to having their opinions solicited and who need to be able to control their work and home environments – or at least to feel as if their input matters. Even older workers do better when they feel they know what is happening and they’re confident that they can ask questions or raise concerns effectively. Transparency provides a sense of knowledge and control that pays off many times over in increased productivity and motivation.
2. Employee retention and longevity improve. This effect is more than merely a factor of improved motivation and productivity – although those do help improve retention. In today’s fast-paced, rapidly changing business world, employees realize that they have to look out for and proactively build their own careers. When they know what major challenges are coming up and how the company plans to deal with them, they can modify their own career needs to suit, increasing the chances that they’ll stick with the company through a tough spot instead of abandoning ship.
3. Respect improves. No leader is infallible. Pretending otherwise places an impossible burden on the shoulders of leadership, and it asks employees to “act as if” an obvious untruth is reality, increasing their stress levels and decreasing their respect for managers and leaders at all levels of the organization. When a company embraces transparency, especially in tough times, employees see that leaders are also human beings making the best decisions they can in the moment – just as they are. Respect among peers grows and help is forthcoming when it’s needed most.
4. Problems are solved more quickly. When employees know exactly what is going on and what resources are available, those in the positions that face a problem most directly are better equipped to come up with efficient, workable solutions. Problems can be solved more quickly, and in many cases, a problem may have a solution that managers in a less-transparent environment could neither have identified nor would have been able to implement.

At TERRA Staffing, our experienced recruiters work closely with our clients to find the right candidates and to create strategic staffing plans that identify and tackle our clients’ long-term staffing needs. To learn more about our staffing services in Seattle and Portland, contact us today!

Categories: Employee Engagement Ideas, Staffing Tips & Recruiting Trends

Tags: Benefits of Transparent Leadership, Leadership Resources for Seattle Businesses, Seattle Recruiting Services, Seattle Staffing Services, Staffing Experts Seattle WA, Transparent Leadership Styles, Workforce Management Strategies

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