Change Leaders: Make Your Thinking Transparent!

First, a story: My friend Marty lives in a condominium building. One of the elevators had been taken out of service for repair. A formal citation from the state was posted on the wall, as required. It looked rather ominous with words like “abatement” and “penalty.”    

So what? Condo owners naturally have a big stake in knowing what’s going on in their building. The citation only said the elevator hadn’t passed inspection, but nothing further. Marty and her neighbors worried what owners — or perhaps a prospective buyer coming around to look at a unit — might surmise. “Well, the place is nice enough but what’s up with that pesky citation from the state displayed in the lobby?” What’s the message? Place not safe? Maintenance substandard? Condo board here not taking care of things? Somebody do something wrong? Building got “cited” by the state — can’t be a good sign, right?

What are we not saying? Marty bumped into a condo board member: “We addressed this at the last board meeting,” he said. “In a few weeks the repairs will be done, we’ll get re-inspected, and we’ll be good.” “But we know not all the owners come to board meetings. Shouldn’t we explain to everybody what happened?” Marty asked. “And maybe put up a little sign to say, ‘sorry for the inconvenience and thank you for your patience while we do our due diligence?’” “Oh,” replied the board member. “Well, we’re required to post the citation.” “But the citation doesn’t say we’re on top of this, that the board understands it’s inconvenient, and that you’ll keep us informed about what’s happening and why.” “Oh,  right,” the board member acknowledged. 

Impact of the “what” without the “why”: The absence of information had ignited a host of competing narratives, Marty told me later. Each version of what had happened took on a life of its own, but none was rooted in what really had occurred. All this made it that much harder for the board to extinguish the blaze of speculation in favor of actual fact. In the end, owners like Marty who basically trusted the board were satisfied when a notice finally did go up with an explanation of why the elevator wasn’t working and a nice message thanking everyone for their understanding. For the owners who didn’t much trust the board to begin with, the notice was a day late and a dollar short and seemed to prove yet again that the board probably wasn’t telling them the whole story.  

Don’t “just” execute — make your thinking transparent! I share this story to emphasize a “change 101″ principle” for leaders, and it goes like this: However competent and above-board your organization’s leadership team is, doing the work isn’t enough. If you are serving in a leadership role at virtually any level in your organization you’ve got to talk about the work you are doing. You have to break it down in plain English — and iterate on it — because that’s what builds up people’s confidence in your capability and trust in your intent.

A little formula to make your thinking transparent. Effective leaders anticipate the kinds of questions they might be asked and address them as part and parcel of day-to-day work. Components of a “what and why” message might contain the following elements: 

• Here’s what we know, here’s what we don’t know.
• Here’s what we’ve done so far, and why we’ve taken this approach.
• Here’s what we’re doing now.
• Here’s what we plan to do next.
• Here’s where you can get more information.
• Here’s when we will circle back, and as things change, we will keep you posted.   
• Here’s what you can do (to prepare, help or engage if applicable).
• Here’s what you can do if you have questions or concerns.

The way to get more people “on board” is to get with the people! Town Halls, All Hands, newsletter articles, webinars, email blasts (and yes, open condo board meetings!) — are all great! Do them! They are musts! But remember that (1) they tend almost always to be once-and-you’re done events and (2) the dynamic they engender is almost always one way — us (up here on the dais or the executive suite) and you (down there on the front lines who rely on us up here).

What to do? Consider adding forums where dialogue — actual two-way discussion — and relationship-building can take place. For example: Convene roundtables to talk things through. Not formal “meetings,” but listening sessions instead where there’s a “we’re in this together” and “here’s where we are in our role (from where we sit), where are you in your role? (from where you sit)” approach. Having a moderator, a light-weight structure and “ground rules” are all useful elements. And, sharing news of and outcomes from these conversations with both those who participate and those who don’t creates a force multiplier for your efforts.    

What’s the payoff? When you make your thinking transparent as part of your day-to-day efforts to execute, your role as a leader or as a leadership team strengthens exponentially. You are educating and empowering those who have a stake in what you are doing and the decisions you make. What’s more, you are expanding the goodwill you need to keep executing on their behalf. When your stakeholders know both the “what” and the “why,” they become not just informed but invested: They are prepared and hence more likely to better navigate changes and challenges — and trust you as their leaders to clear the path and lead the way.    

Nina is a change management practitioner and principal of InterrogativesWork, LLC, a change advisory service dedicated to helping clients and consultants plan and implement organizational change. She has supported a wide variety of organizational change and strategy efforts — from digital transformations and functional re-alignments to the stand-up of enterprise risk management programs, PMOs, organization-wide policy and culture change, performance improvement initiatives, and more. She has an MA in Communications and an MS in Organization Development and graduated from both the Johns Hopkins Fellows in Change Management Program and Georgetown University’s McDonough School’s Change Management Advanced Practitioner Program (CMAP). She is ProSci trained, and has written about organizational change for govloop.com, Change Management Review, and Government Executive.

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