Communicating with Transparency

INTRO
Learning to communicate transparently

We are facing a trust crisis and business is right in the center of the storm.
Consumers, employees, and others increasingly say they don't know who
to trust and doubt the information they hear from spokespeople, leaders,
and officials. As a communicator, you have a poignant opportunity to
change this dynamic. By learning, practicing, and modeling transparency
in communication you can lead the charge within your organization for
earning back this trust and building deeper lasting connections with the
people that matter to your business. But where do you start? Here in my
LinkedIn Learning course, we will explore the concept of transparency and
more importantly, learn how to be transparent even in the toughest of
situations. I'll share with you research and expertise on the value of
transparency, specifically with a goal of helping you become mindfully
transparent and authentic to your true self. This practice will help you
become an even more inspiring leader and will earn trust for yourself and
your organization. Hi, I'm Mory Fontanez, founder and CEO of 822 Group,
a transformation consultancy built to help businesses transform the chaos
inherent in running a business into boundless opportunity. Please join me
as we explore the important topic of communicating with transparency.

TRANSPARENCY IS THE MINIMUM

The case for transparency

The world is in a trust crisis. People, including your customers and

stakeholders, don't know who to trust or where to get the truth any longer.
Trust in government, media, NGOs, and business is at an all-time low. As a
communicator, marketer, or leader, this plummeting trust means losing
your valuable connection to customers and employees. As an
organization, it means losing your competitive edge or worse, even your
license to operate. Transparency is the bridge to earning this trust back.
And building relationships that last through good times and bad. This
could translate to customers that are loyal no matter what your
competitors say or do, or a workforce that defends you in a crisis or
misunderstanding. These relationships can often make the difference
between succeeding or failing as a leader. And as an organization. But
transparency isn't as simple as telling the truth all the time. It's a multi-
dimensional concept that begins with self-awareness, requires a
commitment to uncovering all the facts, and ends with a deep sense of
empathy for your audience. And all of it can be learned and applied. It just
takes a commitment to staying the course, even when it's easier to avoid
doing the hard work in favor of a quicker and easier solution. Most
importantly, communicating with transparency will quickly become the
thing that sets you apart. Whether you're in a position to communicate
good or bad news, when you master transparent communication and
demonstrate it consistently, when you speak, people will listen and know
they can trust what they are hearing. As a leader, this translates into
becoming the kind of leader people will follow, even when the road ahead
is uncertain. This goes for brands too. Customers give their loyalty to
brands that stand for something, and show that they understand their
needs, and will always do the right thing. This could mean giving
customers insight into how decisions are made, where your products are
sourced, and importantly, when mistakes happen, what you plan to do to
correct them. Yes, it's hard, and yes, sometimes not all the facts can be
shared. But committing to a practice of transparency will shed light on all
kinds of opportunities to communicate, even when you didn't expect
them. This commitment will begin a new wave of connection to your
customers and your employees. Suddenly, in a world devoid of trust, your
brand will become a beacon.

Building trusted leaders

As a leader, your job is to create the kind of relationship with your team
where they would follow you into a fire and know that they will make it
back out safely. This requires a deep sense of trust and respect for you.
We know that transparency leads to this deep sense of trust. But
communicating transparently isn't just about telling the truth all the time.
It's a much more involved process that begins with some important self-
exploration. Becoming a more transparent leader begins with self-
awareness, which means understanding your own motivations, triggers,
and needs, deeply and having the ability to articulate them openly and
with vulnerability. To your audience, this translates as authenticity. It
shows that you, the communicator, is aware and honest about who you are
and what you're looking for, which gives you credibility. And credibility is
the very first step to trust. To build this type of radical self-awareness, you
have to begin by listening. Really stopping the internal narrative or your
desire to defend yourself and pausing to listen to how people express
themselves around you, give you feedback, or even to the things they
don't say. To master this, you must let go of the illusion of perfection, as
well as the fear of hearing the truth. Often you will find that what you hear
from others about yourself is far less brutal than your own internal critic.
Take a moment now. Just make a list of all the different kinds of feedback
you've heard about yourself. Some of it will be constructive and some not.
Circle the ones that really do seem constructive. Do you notice any
themes? Now make another list. This one's going to focus on your
triggers. Write down all the experiences that elicit a reaction of fear, anger,
sadness, frustration, competitiveness, any emotion that creates stress
inside of you. Next to those experiences, write down one or two examples
of when you've experienced similar things before. Keep going back in
time. The goal is to find an impetus, a starting point, a singular experience
that wired your brain to believe that experiences that look like that will
always result in a negative emotion. These are your triggers. For example,
I know that for me, when I'm giving advice, especially as a consultant, and
I feel that advice is not being followed, I'm filled with a strong sense of
feeling disposable or not valued. When I trace this back, as the youngest
child in my family and the one who was very different from the rest of my
family, I see a pattern of being spoken over or dismissed or disregarded.
How does this practice of understanding this trigger help me as a leader?
For one, I understand that the emotion I'm experiencing today doesn't
belong in the present. It's an old emotion that came from an entirely
different set of circumstances, which means I'm able to separate my
current circumstances from my personal past. Having awareness of my
own triggers allows me as a leader to do the following things. Separate
fact from fiction, communicate my triggers openly if they seem to be
influencing my actions, and sets me apart as a leader who understands
myself and has the courage to be open about that understanding. Once
people begin to see you as a self-aware and open person, this level of
transparency about yourself creates a sense that you will also be
transparent about other things. Translation, you become a trusted leader
people would follow anywhere.

Transparent communication case studies

As with anything, discussing transparency in theory can only be so

helpful. By looking at how some successful companies and leaders apply
transparency, we can begin to get more granular about what transparent
communication looks like in the real world, and hopefully, find some
inspiration. Let's start with financial transparency, the practice of sharing
important financials like employee pay or company performance with the
workforce. Whole Foods does this by releasing openly the pay of all of its
employees for the entire workforce to see. Another company, HubSpot, a
web marketing company, releases all their financial data to their
employees before going public with this information. These are all forms
of transparent communication that help show the employees that they
work in a fair, equitable, and open environment. That said, there can be a
dark side of this sort of financial transparency. If releasing pay, for
example, creates stress or increased competition among employees, it
may be important to assess the benefit of releasing this information in
relation to the cost to morale. Full financial transparency requires time and
dedication to work through the issues it will create and for the
organization to embrace a completely collaborative and team-oriented
mentality. Some companies go as far as to make transparency one of their
values. Social media management solution Buffer's second value on their
list of 10 values is default to transparency. This is translated to a page on
their website dedicated to transparency which publishes all employee
emails with a if you don't want the public to read it, don't write it motto.
Other features include a product roadmap, with all successes and failures
completely visible as well as details about their pricing model. Activewear
retailer Patagonia applies transparency to their sourcing and product
development, sharing openly all the details about where their products are
made, where their materials are sourced, and working conditions of
workers who produce their materials. This level of transparency is
arguably the reason their customers are willing to pay more for their
products because they have a full understanding of what the company
goes through to ethically source their goods. There are other examples of
transparent communication practiced by courageous leaders. Some CEOs
demonstrate transparency by making their own goals, both personal and
professional, public to employees, encouraging similar behavior from their
workforce. Still, others have been known to make their schedules,
calendars, and even emails public to their employees, both creating full
transparency as to how they spend their time while embedding a deep
sense of accountability within the culture. While there are many great
examples, the truth remains that there are not enough. Do a Google
search for transparent companies and you may come up with 10 or 15,
most of which include the names you heard here today. Think about this.
What are ways that you can emulate these leaders and bring transparent
communication into your organization? If each of you do this, we can add
to that list of torchbearers and make transparent leadership an everyday
occurrence.
CULTIVATE THE PROCESS FOR
TRANSPARENCY
Transparent communication case studies

As with anything, discussing transparency in theory can only be so

helpful. By looking at how some successful companies and leaders apply
transparency, we can begin to get more granular about what transparent
communication looks like in the real world, and hopefully, find some
inspiration. Let's start with financial transparency, the practice of sharing
important financials like employee pay or company performance with the
workforce. Whole Foods does this by releasing openly the pay of all of its
employees for the entire workforce to see. Another company, HubSpot, a
web marketing company, releases all their financial data to their
employees before going public with this information. These are all forms
of transparent communication that help show the employees that they
work in a fair, equitable, and open environment. That said, there can be a
dark side of this sort of financial transparency. If releasing pay, for
example, creates stress or increased competition among employees, it
may be important to assess the benefit of releasing this information in
relation to the cost to morale. Full financial transparency requires time and
dedication to work through the issues it will create and for the
organization to embrace a completely collaborative and team-oriented
mentality. Some companies go as far as to make transparency one of their
values. Social media management solution Buffer's second value on their
list of 10 values is default to transparency. This is translated to a page on
their website dedicated to transparency which publishes all employee
emails with a if you don't want the public to read it, don't write it motto.
Other features include a product roadmap, with all successes and failures
completely visible as well as details about their pricing model. Activewear
retailer Patagonia applies transparency to their sourcing and product
development, sharing openly all the details about where their products are
made, where their materials are sourced, and working conditions of
workers who produce their materials. This level of transparency is
arguably the reason their customers are willing to pay more for their
products because they have a full understanding of what the company
goes through to ethically source their goods. There are other examples of
transparent communication practiced by courageous leaders. Some CEOs
demonstrate transparency by making their own goals, both personal and
professional, public to employees, encouraging similar behavior from their
workforce. Still, others have been known to make their schedules,
calendars, and even emails public to their employees, both creating full
transparency as to how they spend their time while embedding a deep
sense of accountability within the culture. While there are many great
examples, the truth remains that there are not enough. Do a Google
search for transparent companies and you may come up with 10 or 15,
most of which include the names you heard here today. Think about this.
What are ways that you can emulate these leaders and bring transparent
communication into your organization? If each of you do this, we can add
to that list of torchbearers and make transparent leadership an everyday
occurrence.

Help others understand your why

You know that feeling you get when you're in the presence of someone
and you just feel uneasy? Most of the time when this is happening it's
because some part of you feels that you don't fully understand the
person's motivations or intentions. This happens in the workplace and in
the business world a lot. People have a lot of intentions, and many of their
intentions appear to be self-serving at first glance. Getting in touch with
your own intentions is the first step to making sure no one ever has this
feeling about you. When you are in a position to communicate important
information, this can become the defining element of whether you will be
trusted and believed or not. Personal transparency is 100% about
understanding your own values and motivations and being very open with
others about both. To do this, you have to do the internal work first, you
must have clarity within yourself about why do what you do. Ask yourself,
what triggers me to act from a less than ideal place? What brings out my
sense of passion and sense of purpose? What does success look like to
me? What are my expectations of others in my life or in my career? Take
the time to know these answers, then get courageous, talk about the
answers you found. Here's an example. A CEO I worked with in my career
used to start every meeting with her personal why. She would lay out what
she wanted to accomplish that day, week or year, but then she always tied
it back to her own personal motivations. Sometimes those motivations had
to do with feeling like she wanted to make a global impact. Sometimes
they had to do with satisfying board members or shareholders so they
could give her breathing room to do her job. Other times they were just as
simple as wanting to get a win after a series of failures. This sort of
personal transparency is what built deep respect and trust around this
person. When I would be involved to help manage a crisis or quell some
aspect of chaos, I would see her communicate difficult news and watch as
her team reacted with a sense of calm, why? Because they believed in her
and in what she was telling them when she promised a solution. To this
day I still believe this strong sense of belief in this leader came from her
team feeling that they innately understood her motivations and therefore
had no reason not to trust what she was telling them. Think about this as
you reflect on your own motivations. How can you courageously
communicate your own personal why with total vulnerability, no matter
who your audience. The only thing to do is to just start doing it, then sit
back and watch how others react to you.

Mindful vs. radical transparency

So your goal is to communicate transparently to build more trust. That

means you communicate everything to everyone all the time, right?
Wrong. Transparency is the act of being honest and factual and sharing
certain aspects that help others understand backstage processes or
decision making. But when we get lazy about transparency, we think that
just sharing every piece of information with everyone checks the box.
Unfortunately when we aren't mindful about transparency, we can create
the opposite of the desired effect of trust. We can create anxiety, distrust,
and even frustration. I call this the difference between radical
transparency and mindful transparency. Radical transparency is the
practice of sharing all information including information that might be
based on assumptions, passing trends, or heightened emotion. Mindful
transparency is about communicating openly, but first taking a pause to
understand your audience and share information in a way that is both
factual and tailored to what that audience is capable of processing. Let's
take the example of sharing company financial information. Some of my
clients who are working to figure out this balance between mindful and
radical transparency have stumbled into this very common trap. We want
to be totally transparent about the financials of our company they will say.
Then they'll proceed to share difficult news about the company's financial
performance with the staff without any context, and also openly sharing
their own fears and anxieties about what this could mean for the business.
What has this accomplished? Yes, the workforce is now fully informed.
However, because there was no time given to pause and think about the
audience, the appropriate delivery or the responsibility on leadership to
also communicate a path forward, we've left this team feeling incredibly
anxious and without an idea of what they can be doing to help. Mindfully
communicating the financial update would have included the context for
why the company is in the situation and the plan for how the leadership
plans to resolve the issues. Remember, you have the responsibility as a
leader to take your own fears and anxieties out when communicating
information. Transparency about those things does not serve your
workforce or your customers. This is not a license to selectively leave
things out that make you or the company look bad. Mindful transparency
is about communicating even those things, but in a way that removes your
personal narrative and has empathy for how your audience will feel in
reaction to the information.

TRANSPARENCY IN A CRISIS
Where to start when a crisis hits

As an expert in corporate crisis response, I've been involved in hundreds

of issues and crises, both big and small. In some instances, the crisis
dissipates in a matter of days or weeks. In others, it becomes a much
more profound obstacle that lingers and grows in an organization,
corroding relationships with employees, shareholders, and customers.
While incredibly difficult in the moment, transparency is often the element
that makes the difference between a bump in the road and losing your
license to operate. That's because business has a responsibility to its
customers, shareholders, and employees to act in their best interest and
to share information openly. In times of crisis, this responsibility becomes
even more relevant, and expectations of all audiences are heightened. So
how do we think about transparency during our crisis? It all begins with
getting the facts immediately. It's natural, when you're being attacked, to
want to respond right away. Often, this means issuing a statement. There
are moments, for example, in a natural disaster or any event where
people's safety is at risk, where the public needs information. In these
situations, the expectation is an immediate statement sharing any
information or an alert to let people know that your company is aware of
the situation and a list of the actions you're taking, but those are just
about the only times when it's necessary to react so quickly. In most
cases, it is absolutely critical to pause before reacting and go on a
detailed fact-finding mission. Assign a taskforce to dig into each element
of this issue. Have this taskforce divide up the fact finding and interview
appropriate people, do additional outside research, or consultant subject
matter experts. All of this must be done in short order. Depending on the
scale of the crisis, you have 24 to 48 hours to gather all your facts. Once
the team has assembled the puzzle pieces, you review as a group to
separate out conjecture from actual data. This is important. In a crisis,
emotional neutrality is your friend. Emotional neutrality means that you are
addressing the situation with data only and not adding personal anxieties,
assumptions, or persuasion into the mix. Now that you have the facts, it is
your job to communicate facts and facts only, even the ones that don't
appear all that flattering at first blush. The way you communicate to your
employees should look different than public statements. In fact, you
should always start with your employees. They are your spokespeople and
your ambassadors, and leaving them without information or, worse, to get
their information from the news exposes your company to much bigger
issues. Firstly, you lose the chance to have your employees defend you to
the public, and second, you run the risk of angering them and adding their
voices to the mix of public criticism. That said, in all instances of
communicating the crisis, you must share the acts openly and honestly.
Explain how you arrived at this point. For the details that are ugly to admit,
state openly that these are disappointing elements and that this situation
has opened the company's eyes to the work that needs to be done
internally to address these inherent flaws. Then, and most importantly,
explain the solution, even if you don't have one just yet. Communicate how
you plan to arrive at one, and then keep communicating your progress.
Remember, your public wants to trust you. They will stay with you through
the journey, even when it gets rough if you remain accountable and
transparent.

Develop and express authenticity

Authenticity is a word that we've been hearing a lot over the last decade.
In fact, I've heard people tell me not to use that word because it's been
overplayed. Yes, authenticity seems to be trendy right now, but you
certainly wouldn't know it by looking at social media and watching
everyone's well-crafted image of themselves and their lives on display.
What I'm saying is sure, it's easy to say you're authentic, but authenticity
takes very real and very hard work. So while it might be a trendy term
that's overused, my challenge to you is to ask yourselves if you're really
expressing yourselves authentically. What does that look like? An
authentic expression is one that comes from a deep sense of knowing
yourself and communicating based on that knowledge. It also means you
are communicating your truth without a great deal of regard for what
others might think. How does this factor into communicating
transparently? Plainly stated, it goes back to the concept of emotional
neutrality. When you communicate with emotional neutrality, your job is to
convey the facts without adding in any additional internal stories, like
anxiety or conjecture. The same goes for authenticity. It means that once
you've figured out your stance on something, or are communicating about
an experience, you're able to do so in full truth, without adding in the
consideration of what others might think. This is extremely difficult,
especially when we take this concept into the workplace. But here is an
example of how it can work. Imagine for a moment that you oversee a very
large team of salespeople, 100 people. You learn that corporate has asked
for a cost reduction across the board. You know, as the leader, that any
cost reduction would severely affect the team's ability to be successful.
How do you use authenticity to communicate news that you yourself don't
agree with? Let's start with the least authentic, and therefore least
effective method. You stand up in front of your team and share the news,
singing the praises of the decision from corporate, and highlighting all the
reasons why it had to be done so that you can appear to be a team player.
Why won't this work? Because it does not authentically communicate what
you think and people can see through that. But how do you communicate
information like this while representing corporate's desire for you as a
leader to stand united with them, and still be authentic? You start with
your truth. You might start with I'm really concerned about these cuts and
I know that it's going to be hard to hit our numbers. Or this is not easy
news, and I'm really disappointed to have to share it. All of this is your
truth, and it shows them that you get it. This is where you lead with
authenticity. From there, you can communicate the corporate mandate
and make clear that it does have to happen, but that doesn't mean you
can't inspire them along the way by sharing your belief in their ability to
rise to the challenge, or come together as a team when times get hard.
Being authentic doesn't mean you don't have to do the hard thing if you
don't believe in it. It just means you're honest about how you feel or think
while sharing your solutions, inspiring your team to follow your lead.

Empathy makes all the difference

When something disruptive occurs, it can have a far-reaching impact. Your

employees, colleagues, or customers could be seriously affected by a
decision or event outside of your control. You will, of course, also feel the
impact directly. There are a lot of feelings flying around when in a crisis or
managing an issue. It's very natural, in these times of chaos or crisis, to
shut down or to become defensive. Both responses are self protective
measures, where your mind is signaling to you that you must protect
yourself from impending harm. This is actually part of fight or flight. That
said, our external environment is no longer posing a threat to our
existence, like it did for our ancestors, when our brains originally
developed fight or flight. The problem here is that when we naturally react
by shutting down or becoming defensive, we have left out a very
important outcome of communicating transparently, connecting to others.
The antidote to the fight or flight problem is empathy. Empathy is the
ability to put yourself in someone else's shoes, to hear or sense their
experiences without judgment, and without placing yourself in the middle
of their story. When in a crisis or managing an issue, empathy can be the
most powerful tool for turning chaos into opportunity. When we employ
empathy in a crisis, we pause to really understand how the situation has
impacted others. To do this, you can ask yourself some simple questions.
How would I feel if I were being affected by this situation? If this was
happening to me, how have people's lives changed based on this situation
today? What is the long-lasting impact of this event on people's lives?
What are some of the fears or anxieties this situation may be bringing up
for others? And what do people need in order to feel safe and secure?
There are so many more questions that can help you drop the
defensiveness and get curious about others. But, just start with these five
and you will one very big step closer to achieving empathy, even when
your own survival mode is kicking in. Through this new found data point,
information about what others are experiencing, you're able to unlock new
ways of communicating and solving the problem. Often in a crisis, the
corporate response is to just do enough to protect the brand. This is no
longer acceptable and in fact, audiences are wise to it. Instead, by
employing empathy, you can come to a place where all needs are met, and
you can communicate in a way that connects deeply with others by being
able to express your understanding of their perceptions, feelings, and
needs. Whether it be with your colleagues, employees, investors, or
customers, empathy will help you respond to a crisis in a way that builds
trust and moves all of you to a more effective and lasting solution that
benefits the collective.

DEALING WITH CRITICISM OF TRANSPARENCY

Plan to communicate transparently

Often, when we are being open, honest and transparent, we say things
that people don't like or that they don't want to hear. That is the nature of
putting the pertinent facts before our own desire to be liked or to impress
our audience. Getting comfortable with the integrity of transparency is
key. This is a reminder that you are doing the right thing no matter what
reactions you get in return. In fact, the immediate reaction to the
information you have to share is not the end of the story. The test of time
will show that attitudes and perceptions about your actions, your decision
to take the hard road of transparency will shift and that people will see the
integrity behind that decision eventually. So what does this potential blow
back look like? Well, there are many reactions we people have to being
faced with the truth. Denial, anger, disappointment, or even rejection of
the truth teller. Why, shouldn't the truth be honored higher than all else?
Wouldn't that be nice? The reason is when we practice transparency,
sometimes have to be the dark cloud that rains on what appears to be an
otherwise happy parade and some people might resent that. Here's the
problem though. The appearance that all is well is just that. An
appearance. Trying to keep up that appearance, even when something
terrible has happened is completely obvious and depletes trust for you
and your brand in the end. Knowing all of this, how do you handle being
met with anger, frustration or defensiveness when you are being
transparent? The answer is that it's both simple and very hard. You must
understand that the reaction you are getting it not personal. I repeat, it is
not personal. Even when the criticism is for you directly, it's still not
personal. People's reactions are about them. Their own internal story.
Something that's being triggered by the information you're sharing,
anxiety, fear or even their own joy so therefore, their reaction is based on
these feelings, not you as a person. Does this mean you should
communicate without empathy? Absolutely not. In fact, empathy is about
understanding how others feel deeply by putting yourself in their shoes
but removing yourself from their story. This sounds complicated but it's
simple. Say you have to communicate a lay off to an entire department.
Empathy is about understanding how you yourself would feel if you were
being laid off. What information would you want to know? How might you
react? Then using that information to influence the context and the tone of
what you say. For example, you'd want to know why and how this is
happening. So logically, share the why and the how. This is transparency.
You'd also appreciate compassion and the person giving you their time
which means you should convey compassion in your tone and plan enough
time to deal with the questions and feelings that will be elicited by your
news. But again, you should not take their anger at the news personally.
Just let them have their feelings. Create space and respect for those
feelings. That's all you need to do to maintain the integrity of transparency
and the empathy necessary to convey hard news. Remember this, your job
is to tell people all the pertinent facts while removing your own anxieties
from the narrative. To have compassion for their experience in hearing the
news but not to take personally the blow back that is just a natural part of
people processing their own thoughts and feelings.

Responding to criticism
People's reactions to us have much more to do with their own internal
triggers and stories than they have to do with us directly. This is a
universal truth that some of the most profound authors, speakers, and
change makers of our time have understood. Without this knowledge, no
one would say or do anything unpopular, and the world would never evolve
and grow. This same truth goes for you and your company, especially as
you begin to place transparency at the center of your actions and
communications. You must accept that you won't always be popular.
Sometimes the truth is not pretty, but it doesn't mean it shouldn't be
shared, but how do you handle being personally attacked or criticized for
sharing things transparently? You begin by remembering this universal
truth that reactions are not about you. Then, you shift to yourself. Re-
center behind your own intentions and values. Remind yourself who you
are and that this issue, crisis, piece of news does not define you as a
person. Do not allow the criticism to make you teeter. Remember that
people criticizing you are not looking at you as a whole. Therefore, it is not
a commentary about you as a person. Do not be defined by the
circumstances. Accept that you cannot and should not control people's
reactions or feeling. Give them the space to have these feelings or
thoughts. The way you do this is to remove yourself from the fray. Stay
away from the gossip. Don't read the comments or social media posts that
are not constructive. Create a strong boundary for yourself while still
giving people the room to do what they need to process. Once you've
done that, you will create a healthy distance from the situation. From that
vantage point, you will be able to see with more self-awareness whether
some of the criticism is actually warranted. Maybe you didn't handle the
issue with compassion. Maybe you seemed too scripted. Maybe you didn't
share enough detail. If that feedback does strike you as fair, then do
something with it. If the criticism is warranted, take action. It's okay to go
back and re-communicate if appropriate. Share what you've learned about
yourself through this issue and how you plan to grow from it. Be
transparent about your imperfection. This is how you build meaningful
connections. Focus on actionable solutions, and show your audience that
you are making change. Follow through. Don't get distracted from the
mission, which is to learn from the issue or crisis, and become better for it.
Continue to take actions to show the growth and change, and continue the
dialogue with your employees, customers, and others. In the end, the
most important takeaway is that you must leave the issue at the door. Do
not allow it to define you, take up too much of your mental energy, or
dissuade you from continuing to act with integrity and transparency in the
future.
CONCLUSION
Transparency action plan

Every company has different values and culture, translating to varying

levels of tolerance for full transparency. While this change is critical to
your organization's continued success, let's be honest. You're one person,
and transforming your organization into a transparent business is a
monumental task for any one person. That's okay. In fact, I believe that
real change, change that sticks, starts at an organic level with each
individual doing the work to change themselves first. This is where you
can make the biggest impact on your organization, by focusing on building
transparency deeply into your own practices and habits. Remember, start
with yourself and take the time to understand your own motivation and
triggers. Doing this will allow you to develop deep self-awareness and
authenticity. This translates to trust and credibility. Next, focus on facts.
Being a clear and transparent communicator is about practicing emotional
neutrality, taking your own personal feelings out of a tough situation and
focusing on communicating facts and solutions. Finally, be mindful. Take
your audience into consideration and balance the need to be completely
transparent with empathy for how they will process the information. This
will influence your tone and serve as a good reminder to convey solution
instead of your own worries or fears. These changes may feel
uncomfortable at first. But just like anything, if you practice each day,
soon it will become your new habit, and communicating any other way will
feel unnatural. If you want to learn more about how to incorporate
transparency, self-awareness, and purpose into your daily practices,
follow me on LinkedIn and follow my company, 822 Group, on LinkedIn,
Facebook, or Instagram. You can also learn more about 822 Group by
visiting us at [Link]. Thank you for watching this course. I look
forward to seeing the great impact and big change each of you will usher
in to your organizations.