How To Encourage Transparency In Team Dynamics

Most PMs hide behind status reports while elite PMs build in the open. The difference? ... It's not advanced certifications or agile methodologies. It's radical transparency. I've guided hundreds of projects to completion, and here's what I've noticed: - Average PMs share updates on a need-to-know basis. - Elite PMs make visibility their competitive advantage. Let me show you what I mean. When managing deliverables, the typical PM keeps tracking documents in private folders. → They send status reports once a week via email. → They control information flow. But the elite PM takes a different approach. → They maintain a publicly accessible project dashboard that stakeholders and team members can check anytime. See the difference? The first PM creates information bottlenecks. The second PM creates informed teammates who feel trusted and aligned. Or take status meetings. The average PM jumps straight into issues and action items. They rush through updates, highlighting what's off-track and who's behind. The elite PM begins every call showcasing the dashboard and celebrating wins. They heap praise on team members delivering results (and occasionally those who need encouragement). The first PM trains their team to dread status updates. The second PM creates an environment where progress is visible and contributions valued. This pattern transforms how the team handles inevitable obstacles: When facing delays, the typical PM uses vague terms like "𝘴𝘭𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘴𝘤𝘩𝘦𝘥𝘶𝘭𝘦 𝘢𝘥𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘴" or "𝘳𝘦𝘱𝘳𝘪𝘰𝘳𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘻𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯." They downplay issues, hoping executives won't notice. The elite PM directly calls out what's not going well and what's falling behind. They name the problems precisely because you can't mitigate what you won't acknowledge. The common PM breeds uncertainty and backchanneling. The elite PM creates 𝗽𝘀𝘆𝗰𝗵𝗼𝗹𝗼𝗴𝗶𝗰𝗮𝗹 𝘀𝗮𝗳𝗲𝘁𝘆 and 𝗰𝗼𝗹𝗹𝗮𝗯𝗼𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗯𝗹𝗲𝗺-𝘀𝗼𝗹𝘃𝗶𝗻𝗴. Why don't more project managers embrace this kind of transparency? Three reasons: 1. They fear being judged for variance from baseline plans 2. They mistake information control for project control 3. They underestimate leaders' ability to handle reality But here's the truth: Your stakeholders already sense when projects aren't on track. By being transparent, you're not revealing failures—you're demonstrating that you have the confidence to lead through complexity. That's what separates elite PMs from the rest. Not perfect execution, but perfect clarity even when execution isn't perfect. So next time you kick off a project, resist the urge to gate information and manage perceptions. Instead, build dashboards for all to see. Celebrate openly. Address issues directly. ~~~ PS- Are you still using slide decks to convey status? Or do you leverage real-time tools to provide just-in-time answers? . .

These 3 principles of modern work together helped me compound my influence, impact, and capabilities at Microsoft: You can have all the technology in the world around you, but if you don’t change your behaviors, you don’t realize the value. If you make your work, progress, and thoughts visible and accessible, you will inspire greater collaboration, learning, and growth. #1.  𝗪𝗼𝗿𝗸 𝗢𝘂𝘁 𝗟𝗼𝘂𝗱: • By making your work and progress visible to others, you inspire transparency and collaboration. • This reduces unnecessary meetings and status updates, as people can easily stay informed and provide input asynchronously. • Working out loud allows your colleagues to discover your work, offer help or ideas, and connect with you on shared interests or projects. • This open, networked way of working helps build relationships, knowledge-sharing, and a sense of community within the organization. #2.  𝗪𝗼𝗿𝗸 𝗟𝗶𝗸𝗲 𝗮 𝗡𝗲𝘁𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗸: • Approaching work with a networked mindset means expanding your capabilities and expertise beyond your core role or team. • You can leverage the skills and knowledge of your wider network, both within and outside your organization, to tackle challenges more effectively. • Working like a network enables you to learn faster, as you can tap into the collective experience and problem-solving abilities of your connections. • This flexible, adaptive way of working helps you stay nimble and responsive to changing business needs. #3.  𝗠𝗮𝗸𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗜𝗻𝘃𝗶𝘀𝗶𝗯𝗹𝗲 𝗩𝗶𝘀𝗶𝗯𝗹𝗲: • This principle is about shedding light on the complex, implicit, or underappreciated aspects of your work. • By making the invisible (such as processes, dependencies, or tacit knowledge) more visible, you help demystify these elements for your colleagues. • This increased transparency allows people to better understand, improve, and optimize the way work gets done. • When the invisible becomes visible, it empowers everyone to contribute their insights and ideas, leading to more effective and innovative solutions. Collectively, these three principles - working out loud, working like a network, and making the invisible visible - can have a compounding impact on your effectiveness and influence in the modern work environment. They inspire greater collaboration, learning, and continuous improvement, ultimately enabling you to drive more meaningful change and impact within your organization. The beauty of these principles is their simplicity and applicability across a wide range of work contexts, from enterprise social platforms to the future of work and modern work practices. By embracing these principles, you can unleash and unlock new levels of efficiency, agility, and impact in your day-to-day work.

How transparent should we be with our people insights? This is a question I hear from leaders all the time, and, like any good social scientist, my answer is: it depends. Let’s put aside the non-negotiables—those bound by law or confidentiality. Beyond that, there’s a wide spectrum of how companies handle sharing people data insights, and there’s no one-size-fits-all approach. Here are a few key things I always consider: 1️⃣ Data Source Matters: If employees are giving feedback through engagement surveys or focus groups, it’s crucial to share those insights back with them to increase trust, accountability, and future participation. 2️⃣ Know Your Audience: Even if you’re talking about the same metric, you should communicate about it differently to different audiences. Executives often want to know about the high-level trends and strategic insights while the company at large may want to hear about how it directly affects their day-to-day work. You can also consider sharing the information with leaders first, so they are equipped with extra context. 3️⃣ Consider Sensitivity: If the data touches on delicate issues—like potential layoffs, some diversity metrics, or areas where the company isn’t performing well—it’s essential to approach these topics with care. Consider the risks and who needs to know in order to act on the information. Transparency doesn’t mean sharing everything; it means sharing thoughtfully. 4️⃣ Look at Precedent: Consistency in communication builds credibility. Suddenly withholding information you’ve shared in the past can raise red flags. On the other hand, if transparency is new to your organization, you might start by sharing smaller insights and gradually build up to more comprehensive data. 5️⃣ Clarify the Purpose: Is it to inform, to spark action, or to inspire change? Being clear on this will help you decide how much to share, with whom, and how to frame it. 6️⃣ Anchor to Usefulness: A lot of what we study in People Analytics can be helpful for employees to know. How can managers increase psychological safety? How can employees get higher quality feedback from their colleagues? How can distributed teams collaborate best? Whenever possible, I like to share these learnings with employees so they can benefit from our data-informed wisdom. My default? Lean into transparency. In the absence of data, human nature is to make up a narrative—and the stories we create are often far worse than the truth. When appropriate, sharing our knowledge broadly can empower employees and leaders alike to work with a greater shared understanding of reality. Being transparent doesn’t mean sharing everything with everyone, but it does require being purposeful, considerate, and consistent about what you share.

Underrated leadership lesson: Be radically transparent. Feedback shouldn't happen just once a year. It should be a daily, continuous loop. During my 10 years at Bridgewater, I received 12,385 pieces of feedback. And, it wasn't just reserved for formal reviews. Feedback was given LIVE throughout the day. In the middle of a presentation? Feedback. Right after answering a question? Feedback. Truthfully, as an employee, I didn't always love it. But I valued it. After all, they're called blind spots for a reason. This was all the result of one key principle: Radical transparency. A system that integrates candid feedback into daily work life, Allowing employees to constantly assess and be assessed. Here's why it works: ✅ Good thinking and behavior increase ↳ Processes improve when logic is analyzed in real time. ✅ High standards are maintained  ↳ Problems get fixed faster when everything is visible. ✅ No more workplace hierarchies ↳ Continuous improvement happens when everyone is accountable. It's a principle that didn't just change my resilience to feedback. It completely transformed my leadership as a whole. So managers, Consider implementing radical transparency for these 7 reasons: 1. Faster problem-solving ↳ Small issues are easier to fix than big ones. 2. Openness saves time ↳ Less time wasted on gossip and tracking information. 3. Accelerated learning  ↳ Teams grow faster when they understand each other’s thinking. 4. Long-term success ↳ Ongoing feedback improves leadership and the organization. 5. Building an idea of meritocracy ↳ Transparency builds trust and rewards good ideas. 6. Reduced workplace inefficiencies ↳ Open communication cuts wasted time and confusion. 7. Proactive issue resolution ↳ Fixing small problems early prevents bigger ones. While getting scores live in the mid-presentation may not be for everyone: Becoming more transparent has real, tangible benefits, And can put you on a streamlined path to success. Leaders - are you brave enough to try it? ♻️ Repost to help other leaders become radically transparent. 🔔 And follow Dave Kline for more. 

Leaders: create an environment where your team doesn't second guess themselves. Failure is okay. Difficult conversations need to happen. Worthwhile work is hard. But here's the thing: your team will fail to execute according to your standards when you've built a system around fear (whether intentional or not). And even worse, the standards they can achieve. Here's how I try (and fail at times) to build a culture of trust on the marketing team: Encourage Transparency: Make it safe for your team to share challenges, ask for help, and voice concerns. Have monthly or quarterly meetings with every team member, make it a safe space to share their concerns. Show Your Vulnerability: Lead by example, show your own vulnerability. Admit your mistakes, and model how to learn and move forward. Get Agreements: Fear often arises from uncertainty. Be clear about goals, priorities, and what success looks like. Share Before Ready: Encourage your team (and yourself) to share work-in-progress ideas, drafts, and projects. Waiting for "perfect" never works. Give Feedback With Empathy: Feedback should be constructive, not destructive. Focus on the behavior, not the person. Fear can stifle even the most hardworking and intelligent. It also blunts creativity, slows your team, and severely limits trust. It's your job to remove the barrier.