The power and peace of transparency

A few years ago, I was in a workshop and the facilitator asked: “When you meet someone new, does your trust level begin at 100 or zero? In other words, will you trust someone right away until they give you cause to lose that trust or do they have to earn your trust?”

What I found truly interesting was the almost even split in the room, and it showed me that there’s clearly not just one pathway to trust.

Here’s how I look at it: for people to trust you, they have to know you - and that takes time and transparency. You have to let people inside, be a little vulnerable, and always be clear about why you do or don’t do things.

Transparency is the pathway to trust, and I have yet to find a reason to not be transparent.

Here’s a situation I’m guessing most, if not all of us have experienced. A boss changes direction on strategy and doesn’t tell us why.

They just expect you to go along with it. What happens to your trust level for that person? It goes down, of course.

Let’s flip the perspective and look at the boss.

What could be the reason to not explain the reasoning to their team? Perhaps they didn’t feel 100% confident in their thought process and were afraid of being exposed. Totally natural.

But the alternative is getting your team together and saying: “Look, I believe we need to change our plan for the marketing launch. There are just a few elements that aren’t sitting right with me - let me tell you about them.”

Transparency like that will build trust with your team, not break it down. As I’ve said many times, a leader doesn’t always need to have all the answers.

The key is to ask the right questions, make the final decision, and take responsibility for it.

Here’s one other person that benefits from transparency: you. Holding things back can be a huge burden and being transparent brings a sense of peace because you’re not hiding anymore.

Be honest. Be open. Be vulnerable.

It will pay off in the long run. Trust me.

Thanks for reading,

Peter

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