What's one way you plan to be more transparent with your staff to ensure everyone's on the same page in the new year?
To help you and your staff ensure that everyone is on the same page in the new year, we asked business leaders and HR experts this question for their best advice. From sharing the good and the bad to leading virtual town halls, there are several ways you can ensure that everyone at your company is on the same page this year.
Here are nine ways to ensure everyone's on the same page in the new year:
- Be Relatable
- Lead By Example
- Share The Good And Bad News
- Hold Virtual Town Hall Meetings
- Take Feedback As Well As You Give It
- Send Out Weekly Updates
- Open Up The Books
- Be Open And Honest
- Celebrate Success And Express Any Concerns
Be Relatable
By being relatable, you can better connect with others, making transparency much easier and sets the foundation for a trusting relationship. Sometimes having transparent conversations can be very difficult, so having a trusting relationship becomes important. This can make the difference between your message being lost in translation or effectively received by your staff.
Rronniba Pemberton, Markitors
Lead By Example
Transparency from the top down is the best way to set the tone for the team. To create a culture of trust and respect, you have to practice what you preach. Most importantly, you can’t be afraid to admit mistakes and own them. Trust me—it will go a long way with your employees and help get everyone on the same page.
Brad Sacks, More Than Gourmet
Share The Good And Bad News
At Lyon Shield Security, we plan to keep employees in the loop by sharing the good news and the bad news with them. Sharing good news moments with employees can lift spirits and make people proud of their work. Sometimes, employees might not hear about all the good they are doing, so we make sure to bring awareness every time we have a good job or get a compliment from a client. On the flip side, it’s important to keep employees informed on the bad news too. Deciding to brush bad news under the rug can be damaging to a company. We don’t share every little blunder or stress with employees that don’t need to worry about it, but we make sure we are as transparent as we can be and that we can all look for ways to improve when we experience bad moments.
Michael Staton, Lyon Shield Security
Hold Virtual Town Hall Meetings
The one way I employ to promote transparency with my staff is to have monthly town hall meetings to inform them of the company’s financial standing, ongoing business projects, and employee-related activities and changes—as well as external activities that affect our operations. I find it rewarding to see their faces and their genuine reaction to the news I bring them. It also shows the sincere effort I make to hear them out through a Q&A or comments session. With the pandemic, this has been translated virtually through online meetings. Other companies can do what we’re doing as well by doing an internal survey first on which topics about the business the employees are curious about or need clarification with. A company can express its willingness to listen and take an active part in fostering a better employer-employee relationship this way.
Anton Konopliov, Palma Violets Loans
Take Feedback As Well As You Give It
When it comes to candid feedback, I think, as CEOs, we tend to give it better than we take it. One way that I've committed to being more transparent with my team this year is by encouraging them to be more candid in their feedback to me. And they've taken the request to heart. Sometimes the feedback hasn't been easy to hear, but that's when it's been most important for me to listen and listen carefully. So far this year, I've been made aware of two issues that I've been able to work through successfully—because my team wasn't afraid to tell me what was going on. As a result, I was able to steer through the problem without a major disruption to the rest of the organization, our clients, and the business. If you are interested in being more transparent with your team this year, start with better listening. Ask them what's going on and really listen to what they're telling you.
Jennifer L'Estrange, Red Clover
Send Out Weekly Updates
Our company has grown significantly in the past year, even while we have been working remotely during the pandemic restrictions. We’ve also added many remote employees who will remain remote, which means we get together as a company less often. To combat this and stay connected with all employees no matter their location, I produce an informal CEO video every week. I give company updates, celebrate individual employee wins via shout-outs, and review progress toward company goals. I send the video out on Slack for employees to view at their convenience.
Rob Bellenfant, TechnologyAdvice
Open Up The Books
How I plan to be more transparent in the new year is by opening up our finances. Last year, I shared how much we made and how much profit we made. I told them that without top-line revenue and profit, we die. Everyone is out of a job. I plan to share our books every quarter to show our team how we are doing in reaching our goals.
Trevor Rappleye, CorporateFilming.com
Be Open And Honest
I believe in being honest with my employees. If I don't know the answer to something, I tell them. If I have an answer they do not want to hear, I tell them. Honesty builds trust, which has to be the foundation for any successful relationship. Transparency through open communication has allowed me to build an amazingly strong team.
Shelbey Grimes, Trinity Air Medical
Celebrate Successes And Express Any Concerns
At least once a month, have an informal “state of the business” discussion with your team. Celebrate all the successes! But also be transparent about any concerns, without inciting panic, as in “revenue is down for the third month in a row, which is a challenge.” Employees often view management as irrational if they don’t know the underlying reasons behind cuts in spending or other business tactics. You may think these challenges are obvious, but most employees either don’t have access to the P&L or can’t interpret the results.
Joni Holderman, Thrive! Resumes
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